Children of the Cobb
by WastelandRose
Summary: Jayne Cobb whored three laps around the 'verse. His nine illegitimate children showing up on Serenity don't really surprise anyone aside from him. But why are the kids on the run from the Alliance? What will they mean for the Second Unification War? AUish
1. Part 1: The Nine and Ten

Part 1 - The Nine and Ten

-1-

Dana remembered his mother. Not many of the orphans did so he considered himself lucky. He remembered his life before the Child Reclamation Act made it illegal for whores and criminals to keep any offspring they bore. He remembered being hungry and afraid all the time, hiding in closets while his mother worked, knowing she didn't really love him. Some of the whores and other assorted criminals went to their graves trying to keep their bastard children from Alliance hands. Dana's mother dropped him off outside a fed station early in the morning on the day the law went into effect.

-2-

Salvatore had already come to accept the nickname Sally by the time Parliament passed the law that took him away from his mamma. Accepting the name, however, did not stop the large boy from beating the living hell out of anyone who made fun of it. Word spread quickly around the packed Alliance orphanage that Sally Damiani was not to be messed with by those who valued all their teeth and full use of their limbs. The reputation stuck solid throughout all his many years there and he wouldn't have had it any other way. He liked being feared. Being feared meant never being bothered.

-3-

Before the feds came, Ace's ma used to tell the girl she won her off a poker game she hadn't even been playing in. Sperm Donor--that's what the woman always told Ace her daddy's name was--had been on a hot streak, laying down a straight, flush, and full house all in a row. The man who'd already paid for Ace's ma's time that evening used it as a marker to stay in one more round. He lost, two pair against four aces. Sperm Donor got everything and an evening with Ace's ma. Ace's ma got Ace and always maintained she came out the real winner that night.

-4 & 5-

Right after the twins were born, their mama couldn't remember which one she'd wanted to name Meredith and which one she'd wanted to name Frances, which was the girl and which was the boy. Whatever the doctor gave her to dull the pain of delivering the twenty pounds of twins had worked far too well. She couldn't feel anything below her waist and her brain was numb clean through. The twins thought it was funny, sometimes, that she got his name and he got hers. They used to giggle about it under their covers until their mama came in to tell them to hush up and go to sleep. But then the brothel got raided and all the hidden children were taken away. In the orphanage, Merry and Frankie weren't even allowed to sleep in the same barrack, let alone the same bed. Each one ached with missing the other giggling underneath the covers.

-6-

No one could pronounce Jan's name and it made him all kinds of furious. _Yahn_ he would insist, over and over again with clenched fists and jaws, but the orphanage officials still ended up saying it _Jan_, like the girl's name,_ every_ morning at roll call. They didn't listen and they didn't care. Jan's mom may have been a whore, but at least she knew how to say his rutting name.

-7-

When asked where her name had come from, Hunter liked to tell people that she was born while her mama'd been on safari on one of the jungle planets, that the name came from the big game hunt she was participating in when she went into labor. The other children in the orphanage always scoffed. Why would a pregnant whore be on a safari? Taking part in a big game hunt, no less? They called Hunter a liar. She was, of course, but the girl still resented the fact that she couldn't get anyone else to believe her favorite lie. Maybe, she reasoned, the flaw in her fib was that she didn't know the truth. Lying without a truth to cover up is just shooting in the dark.

-8-

Kelly Green was just a gorram funny name. Didn't matter how much teasing he caught over it, Kelly would always think so. That was his way. Foolish boy could find good in anything. As the son of a whore, a resident of an overcrowded Alliance orphanage since before he could remember, and a male named Kelly, he had to have that sort of outlook just to get by.

-9-

Murphy was named for the Alliance soldier who pulled her out of the burning brothel. She had a name before, of course, just couldn't remember what it was, was too young to remember. So she became Murphy after the soldier who saved her from the fire his company started during the massacre, Jean after the nurse who treated her for smoke inhalation, and Gold after the Heart of Gold, the place where her mother was slaughtered. Gold wasn't too special though. Most of the young children "rescued" from that particular establishment received that particular surname. They were envied in the orphanage because there were so many of them that sometimes it seemed like they might even be a family.

-10-

Jayne Cobb left home at the age of eighteen and had been drinking, whoring, and killing his way across the 'verse ever since. Throughout all those years, he rarely had an urge he didn't sate in a timely manner or a thought outside of his own enjoyment and wellbeing.

A crazy naked girl popped out of a box and everything changed.

Not quite five years down the line, he found himself not only in love with and married to the moonbrain, he also found himself staring at her in shock while she protectively cradled the almost imperceptible swell of her pale, naked stomach. "River-girl," Jayne managed to breathe, reverently falling to his knees at their bedside, "You sure?"

She gave him that "you're such a boob" look usually reserved for her prissy brother before chirping, "Tests have been taken. Hormone levels correlate to gestational state." With a loopy, child-like smile, the woman looked out from behind a veil of long, dark hair and asked, "Can we call her Ten?"

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Procrastination takes on such entertaining forms. Review, please, so that I can feel like I actually accomplished something tonight instead of just making up excuses not to write my paper ;D


	2. Part 2: Flight to Freedom

Part 2 - Flight to Freedom

All orphans in the Alliance run facility had full DNA profiles run when they arrived. It was necessary, really, to test for genetic abnormalities that would prevent the cadets from serving their mandatory military service when they turned eighteen, to weed out the most promising candidates for medical and psychological experimentation, and to make sure any possible embarrassments to high-ranking officials were dealt with swiftly and quietly.

Ace was a ballsy little thing and always had been. She was six when they brought her in and it didn't take long until she got around to exploring the orphanage that would now be her home under the provisions of Alliance statute 34C-759. She was the one who broke into the DNA records. She was the one who discovered the secret and brought them all together.

In 2516, only two years after the enactment of the Child Reclamation Act, there were already six at the central facility on Bastille, six children from all across the 'verse, all born of different whore mothers by the same unknown father.

_Cadet 002005-M: Dana Sullivan Mao, 7. Brown hair, blue eyes. Recovered from Beaumonde. Surrendered willingly by mother, January, 2514. Status of mother, living, Beaumonde. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

_Cadet 008943-M: Salvatore Vincenzo Damiani, 6. Black hair, blue eyes. Recovered from L'Aquila. Seized in initial recovery operation, January, 2514. Status of mother, deceased, influenza. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

_Cadet 435307-F: Ace Ying Keaka, 6. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Recovered from Santo. Seized in raid, July, 2516. Status of mother, deceased, military action. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

_Cadet 628943-M: Meredith Leo Freely, 5. Twin. Brown hair, brown eyes. Recovered from Verbena. Seized in raid, May, 2515. Status of mother, deceased, military action. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

_Cadet 628944-F: Frances Lin Freely, 5. Twin. Brown hair, brown eyes. Recovered from Verbena. Seized in raid, May, 2515. Status of mother, deceased, military action. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

_Cadet 675923-M: Kelly Alan Green, 1. Blonde hair, hazel eyes. Recovered from Sihnon. Handed over by hospital personnel immediately after birth, April, 2515. Status of mother, deceased, opiate overdose. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

It took Ace nearly a month to finally round the six up, to let her brothers and sisters in on the secret. They were all thrilled to know that they had each other. They hugged and played and were a family. Because they needed a family.

Ace kept an eye on their file in the record room and, over the years, more brothers and sisters popped up in it, arrived and were welcomed into their midst.

_Cadet 786009-F:_ _Hunter Anne Zehna, 4. Red hair, blue eyes. Recovered from Whittier. Surrendered by mother under threat of force, November, 2517. Status of mother, incarcerated, prostitution and child endangerment. Father, unknown donor 98-364._

Shortly after Hunter arrived, unknown donor 98-364 got a face and a name.

_Donor 98-364:_ _Jayne Michael Cobb, 27. Dark hair, blue eyes. DNA sample recovered from St. Lucy's crime scene after subject escaped police custody. Wanted._

The children were a little disappointed to hear that their father was a criminal, but, at the same time, thrilled to finally know who he was. It was nice that the files changed to have them all claimed under his name.

More Cobb offspring arrived in the facility.

_Cadet 885737-M: Jan Ruben Novik, 6. Brown hair, blue eyes. Recovered from Beylix. Seized in raid, February, 2518. Status of mother, incarcerated, prostitution and child endangerment. Father, Jayne Michael Cobb, wanted._

_Cadet 900032: Murphy Jean Gold, 1. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Recovered from Hickok. Seized in Heart of Gold raid, December, 2519. Status of mother, deceased, military action. Father, Jayne Michael Cobb, wanted._

The little group was capped at nine and things were quiet for a while. They grew up in a harsh boot camp environment but always had each other to get them through.

And then, suddenly, it was a week before Dana's eighteenth birthday.

And he would be sent away to the army, to five years of compulsory military service to repay the Alliance for all its fine parenting. There was a war on. It wasn't safe.

"We have to _do _something!" Ace insisted, just seventeen and still more balls than brains as she paced the deserted barrack, "It's not right! We can't let them send him away! He'll die!"

"Well, what do you want us to do about it?" Salvatore demanded, the black-haired behemoth lying on his back in one of the cots and scowling hotly at the ceiling, "Not like we can just march into the head office and say, 'No, thanks. Mouse doesn't want to go.'"

"Quit calling me that, Sally," Dana Mao grumbled half-heartedly, not bothering to look up from braiding Murphy's long blonde curls. The nine-year-old in his lap looked even tinier than normal against her older brother's massive frame, weak and frightened from the tears welling up in her sparkling sapphire eyes.

Fidgeting with his threadbare gray uniform, skinny little twelve-year-old Kelly piped up hopefully, "Maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe Mouse'll like it. Maybe they'll put him in charge and he'll be a general or something!"

"Not likely," Hunter declared haughtily, the girl of fourteen looking very self-important as she brushed shocks of ginger hair out of her cornflower blue eyes, "Everyone knows they always send the reclaimed soldiers to the front lines. That's why Parliament passed the Act to begin with. It was a massive government conspiracy to boost dwindling troop levels."

"Oh, _bi-zui_, Hunt," Jan grumbled, the fifteen-year-old working furiously to wedge a loose board up out of the floor so he didn't have to think too much about their situation, "Not everything's a gorram government conspiracy!"

"This is!!" His younger sister protested from her seat between the twins, "You haven't been reading up on the cortex like I have! The Act came the same year enlistment numbers dropped to their all time low. After it was passed, the Alliance was able to seize all the children of anyone with criminal records, singling out mostly whores, thieves, and activists, as well as former Independent fighters and sometimes just those with kids who fit one experiment or another. We get room and board until we're eighteen, then have to _repay_ by going into the army. They said it was to protect us from _moral corruption_ but it was all just a ploy to boost troop numbers, especially since they anticipated a second civil war to eventually break out. They don't really care about us. Why do you think this place is so military? We sleep in barracks, eat in a mess hall, wear miniaturized troop uniforms, march all the time, and have to show up for reveille every morning at the asscrack of dawn! They're preparing us for battle! All they want out of us is soldiers! There's hundreds of thousands of unjustly seized cadets for them to send to die first for a cause none of us believes in! To defend an institution that killed most of our parents!"

"We can't let them send Mouse!" Meredith proclaimed, brown eyes fearful as he reached out for his sister's hand. At sixteen, the twins were still lost without each other. Grasping Merry's hand in her own, Frances agreed softly, "We can't! We don't want Mouse to die!"

"First of all," Dana sighed weakly as he finished Murphy's long braid with a little length of contraband green ribbon he'd been saving especially for her, "I told you all to quit calling me Mouse. Second, there's nothing you can do to stop it. I'll be gone in a week and that's that."

"No it's not!!" Ace cried out, stomping her foot like a frustrated child as she rounded on her big brother and jabbed him hard in the chest, "This isn't just about you, Mouse! If we let you go now, then it'll only be a matter of time before rest of us get shipped off, too! Me and Sally are seventeen, so that's only a year before we're gone! Merry and Frankie are sixteen, so that's just two! Jan'll be gone in three years, Hunter in four, Kelly in six, Murphy in nine! Murphy on the gorram _front lines_, Mouse!! This isn't just about you! It's about all of us! Some of us might make it, but most of us won't, and I _do not_ like those odds!! If we don't get out of this now, then there's no hope!"

Dana's baby blue eyes grew panicked. He hadn't thought about it that way, hadn't thought that far into the future. The young man didn't worry half as much about himself as he did about his little brothers and sisters, and the prospect that any one of them might end up a casualty of war made him sick to his stomach.

His grip on lovable little Murphy tightened. He looked around at all of them, at ballsy Ace, grouchy Salvatore, hot-headed Jan, sweet Kelly, bright Hunter, quirky Meredith and kind Frances.

He made up his mind.

"Ok," Dana gave in, glancing over at Ace just in time to catch her devious smirk, "What's the plan?"

xxXxx

River had started reading books about step-parenting again.

Jayne was getting powerful nervous.

Was she going to leave him? Had she picked out some core-born _hun-dan_ that deserved her more than he did? A rich widower with a whole passel of refined little brats she'd need to be looking after?

"Improbable," His wife's gentle voice stated, causing the merc to jump nearly out of his skin. Didn't matter how long he'd known her, how long he'd been married to her, that was always going to be gorram creepifying.

Clutching his giggling five-year-old daughter against his chest, Jayne tried to get his heart rate to slow as he wandered farther into the _Serenity_ common room.

River looked up out of her book--_Stepmotherhood: How to Survive Without Feeling Frustrated, Left Out, or Wicked_--and smiled brightly up at him. "The Nine are coming," She declared, "Need to prepare. Want to make a good impression. Want them to like me."

"Don't see how anyone could not like you, baby doll," Jayne responded as he took a seat beside his wife and hugged her against his side, "You're my favorite person in the 'verse... well, tied with the lil' bit here."

The dark-haired girl with the big brown eyes gave an elated little giggle, snuggling against her father's broad chest as she cooed, "You're my favorite, too, Papa."

Jayne gave a gruff laugh and kissed both his girls before inquiring, "How long 'til we land?"

"Five hours, twenty-six minutes, thirteen seconds until _Serenity_ touches down on Persephone," River supplied, a mix of excitement and apprehension passing across her pretty face as she dove back into her book, "We will be on world for three days, three hours, forty-seven minutes, five seconds. Entry coupling will break on approach. Cannot be helped. Kaylee will be unable to find replacement until day two. Captain will be very grumpy, but new crime opportunity will present itself on day three. His spirits will be lifted. The Nine will arrive just in time to come aboard before we leave."

"Huh," Jayne mused aloud, "Sounds like you got it all planned out... still don't get the book though."

River's lips twisted into a secretive little smile.

xxXxx

"I can't _breathe_ in here!!"

"_Bi-zui_!" Ace scolded, bending low as she pushed her cart along the sterile Alliance hallway, "Laundry isn't supposed to rutting talk!"

"I can't help it!!" Came Jan's voice, significantly whinier than usual, "Hunter's fat _pi-gu_'s cutting off my air supply- OW!"

"I am not fat, you _gou-shi dui_! Take it back!"

"OW!! Let go!! _Aaace_!! She's giving me a tittie-twister!!"

Dana glanced over his shoulder from the head of their train of laundry carts, silently warning Ace to keep her load quiet before turning back around to scan for any unforeseen obstacles. This was a seriously risky venture. Getting caught would mean a transfer to one of the higher-security, far more brutal facilities, as well as most likely being split up. Dana didn't want that for his siblings.

"You two are going to ruin this for everyone!" Ace hissed, reaching into her cart in order to slap both the fifteen and fourteen-year-old upside their heads, "Just sit still and be quiet until we can get out of here!"

She was met with reluctant silence and gave a relieved sigh. The slim blonde looked over her shoulder, back at Sally. He was pushing a cart as well, Meredith and Frances hidden amongst the dirty sheets and uniforms. Her black-haired older brother gave a terse nod.

They turned a corner and began their nervous approach to the armed soldier who was guarding their exit. As the three teens neared, the young man in purple armor stood up and shouldered his rifle. "State your purpose," He demanded curtly.

"Cadets Mao, Keaka, and Damiani, sir," Dana answered, flashing a laminated ident badge and leaning out of the way for Ace and Sally to do the same, "We're scheduled to meet the laundry transport craft at oh-six-hundred hours. Permission to pass?"

The soldier looked them over with a critical eye before finally stating, "Permission granted, but you Annies better hurry it up. That transport leaves in fifteen minutes and you've got a lot of ground to cover to meet it in time."

The three had to bite their tongues against the slur, keeping their gazes down as they trouped past the soldier and out the door into the dim morning light.

The Bastille compound was huge. It occupied a large parcel of the small moon and housed the vast majority of the thousands of orphans the Alliance had seized over the years. The barracks were low, gray buildings set up in neat rows amongst the paved ground and surrounded by electrified barbed wire fences. Outside the first series of fences was a wide open training ground, one that could be easily mistaken for a military or possibly prison yard. It was surrounded by yet more electrified barbed wire fences, these ones topped with guard towers every fifty feet where armed soldiers waited to shoot any attempted escapees. Beyond those were some nicer barracks and towns for the soldiers to live in and a few under-the-table, orphan-manned sweat shops, followed by a whole lot of empty desert.

But several times a week shuttles landed inside the yard early in the morning in order to pick up dirty laundry to be taken to one of the orphan-manned cleaning stations on the other side of the moon. Three cadets from every barrack were always assigned to gather their house's laundry and deliver it to the shuttles. It took very little convincing for Dana, Ace, and Salvatore to get three of the ones who were supposed to do it that week to trade.

Instead of heading to the shuttles, they very casually strolled over to the main guard station. The fear of cadets escaping on the shuttles had always been high so most of the guards attached at Bastille were usually present at the shuttles on laundry day to discourage any such occurrence. Fortunately, that meant the guard station itself was left conveniently almost empty.

"Ok, we're clear," Dana stated as he came out from one of the back rooms. There was only one sleeping guard to knock out and after that stealing an armful of Alliance uniforms was just too easy.

The laundry began to wriggle.

"Get off me, Hunter!!"

"Bite me, Jan!!"

Ace rolled her eyes, grabbing the brunette and redhead each by the collar and yanking them apart. "I'm not telling you two again!" She scolded, "Knock it the hell off!!"

"Come on, Ace," Dana called, tossing the blonde an armor set-up, "Get changed. Sally, soon as you're finished, I want you on the door."

The tall seventeen-year-old nodded, fixing the strap of his helmet around his square jaw and picking up a sonic rifle before moving to stand at the entryway.

When Dana was done with his own uniform, he bent over the laundry cart to check on sleepy little Murphy, who was curled up with Kelly amongst the sheets. He spared both a warm smile, petting the girl's chaotic blonde curls as he asked, "What's the word, little ones? You doing alright?"

Kelly nodded brightly and Murphy gave a sleepy yawn, rubbing little fists into her bottle blue eyes. "Dana?" She asked softly.

"Ya?"

"Is this really gonna work?"

The teen gave his baby sister a fierce hug, answering, "Of course it is." He looked back to Ace, asking, "We ready?"

"As we'll ever be," The blonde chirped, trying to hide nerves behind a watery smile.

Nodding, Dana stated, "Ok, get Merry, Frankie, and Jan pushing the carts. I'll make the call." With the unconscious guard's I.D. and codes, the young man picked up a radio.

"Sergeant, this is Private Lombardi. Do you copy? Over."

The room was still and silent as they all held their breaths waiting for a response.

"_Private, this is Sergeant Huang. I copy. What's your twenty? Over_."

Dana grinned.

"Still at the guard station, sir. An order just came in from laundry. They're requesting three cadets be transferred to their facility. They want them on the transport today. Over."

"_Any three or a specific three? Over_."

"They sent names, sir. Cadets Freely, Freely, and Novik. Should I have them found and escorted to the shuttles? Over."

"_Affirmative. Get them here under guard to be loaded on board. Over and out_."

"Well," Dana stated happily as he turned to address his smirking siblings, "You heard the man. Move out, grunts."

They progressed slowly in a neat line, Dana at the front, in a soldier uniform and carrying one of the sonic rifles, then Meredith, Frances, and Jan pushing the laundry carts, and Ace and Salvatore, also disguised as soldiers, bringing up the rear. Hunter, Kelly, and Murphy were still and silent in their hiding places.

"Sir, I have Cadets Freely, Freely, and Novik, as requested," Dana called out as they neared the laundry shuttles, saluting the big, soft-bellied sergeant, "Escort is prepared to supervise transport and handoff to laundry facility. Awaiting your orders, sir."

The sergeant took a heart-wrenchingly long time to inspect the little assembly, dark eyes cold and calculating. For a moment, it almost seemed like he was going to ruin everything.

Finally, he gave in. "Alright," The soldier muttered, "Just hurry on board. Take off can't be delayed so be sure and do the cart search once you're secured."

"Yes, sir," Dana saluted again, jabbing Merry with the barrel of his rifle as he snarled theatrically, "You heard the man, Annies! Get your gorram rumps in gear!"

For a split second, Merry and Frankie look like they might both burst into tears. Dana cursed himself for going a little too far with his acting

But then they were on board and the hatch was closing and the shuttle was lifting and... they'd _done it_!!

Well, not entirely. They still had to wait until the transport was up in the air and a ways away from the compound before they could highjack their escape vehicle. But, really, the hard part was over.

"Sorry, you guys," Dana apologized weakly to his pair of wide-eyed siblings, "I should've warned you that I was planning to do that. I just thought it would make me more believable."

Shrugging, Merry gave a soft smile and stated, "Nah, it's ok. We know you didn't mean anything. It just..."

"Took us by surprise," Frankie finished quietly, "Doesn't hurt anymore when the soldiers call us Annies. Hearing it from you just let it get to us again."

Dana felt a pang of guilt, grabbing the pair of brunette sixteen-year-olds into a tight hug. "I'm sorry," He said, "I'm really sorry. Once we're away from here, we'll never have anyone call us that ever again."

"What's it mean?" Murphy asked quietly, not picking her head up out of the laundry cart because she'd been told not to until Dana said so.

The boy peeled back some of the sheets from over her head and gave a sad smile, explaining, "It just means little orphan. It's not really vulgar, I guess. What's bad is how they say it."

"Mouse," Salvatore called quietly, nodding towards the door that led to the shuttle's cockpit, "We should be over the ridge in five minutes. You sure you can fly this thing?"

"Sure," Dana answered, "I've done a few hours in the simulator... how hard can it be?"

xxXxx

"We crashin' again?" Mal inquired as he came stomping onto _Serenity_'s bridge, voice surprisingly unaffected for a man whose ship was about to shake to pieces all around him.

"Let's just say we'll be on the ground a bit sooner than I planned," Wash joked anxiously, tan arms tense and knuckles white around the steering yolk. "I think it may be the entry coupling," He went on, "Our Mrs. Cobb spent a good portion of lunch grilling me about my ability to land with a broken entry coupling... you think if I'd said it wasn't possible she would've let us in on this sooner?"

With a shrug, the captain responded, "Hard to say. The lil' witch usually remains pretty firm in her decision not to meddle with fate and destiny and all those other fancified euphemisms for 'the ship'll crash,' 'the captain'll get shot,' or 'oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die.'"

"Wouldn't want to alter the very fabric of space and time," The pilot countered cheerfully, glad he was strapped in as the Firefly gave a particularly violent lurch and sent Mal's head straight up into the ceiling with a dull, resonant _BONG_.

"That was not a nice noise," Wash muttered nervously, "Not a nice noise at all. Is this where I should be getting on the comm to apologize for the turbulence? I wasn't always so good with the etiquette part."

"Just land my ruttin' boat!!" Mal screamed from his boneless pile of blinding pain on the floor.

"Ah," Wash mused to himself, "It's a good day to be alive... I am a leaf on the wind..."

xxXxx

"I cannot _believe_ you crashed us!!" Ace hissed beneath her breath. It was almost a full day after their spectacular crash landing on Persephone and the girl still wasn't letting it go.

"I said I was sorry," Dana answered sheepishly, trying to keep his head down as they passed yet another set of Alliance soldiers patrolling the crowded marketplace, "And it's not like I meant to do it."

"Of course you didn't _mean_ to," Ace replied, tugging on the scarf she had wrapped around the lower half of her face, "But I still can't believe you did it! You said you knew how to fly!"

Getting indignant and annoyed after twenty-four hours of the same conversation, the burly teenager grumbled, "It was different than the simulator, alright! Let it go!"

"What are we going to do?" Sally asked, deep voice low and secretive as he tried not to act like he was talking to them, all the while keeping an eye on the other groups that the siblings had broken up into to avoid drawing suspicion as they moved through the crowded market.

Dana sighed deeply. "I don't know," He said, "The whole planet is crawling with Alliance. They _know_ we're here and aren't going to leave until they find us. We have to get off world, but, even if we find a way to pay _nine_ fares, we won't be able to set foot on any transport without being turned in for the reward money."

"We should hijack another ship!" Ace suggested excitedly, "Something bigger this time. I love you guys and all, but close quarters for two days was not exactly ideal. Some people, who shall remain nameless because I'm just that nice, are in sore need of several dozen showers."

Rolling his eyes, Dana proclaimed, "We are not hijacking another ship. That would be stealing and it's only ok to steal from the Alliance since they owe us for all the _go-se_ they put us through."

"Is stealing from the lost and found still stealing?" Sally mused quietly, inspecting the frayed hem of his too-small cartoon character t-shirt, "Because I know we needed civilian clothes to wear, but it brings up some interesting questions about ethics and morality and the extent to which Mouse is a filthy hypocrite."

Before Dana could reply, Jan carefully sidled up behind the trio, acting like he wasn't with them as he led Murphy by the hand. "Kelly and Murph say their hungry," He reported, nonchalantly looking off into another direction, "What's the word, Mouse? You got a plan or not?"

"We could steal an Alliance ship," Ace pressed, clearly not willing to give up the possibility of more thievery.

"Mouse, I have to pee," Hunter whined, drifting closer with Kelly hot on her heels, "Can we stop to find a bathroom?"

"Mouse! Mouse!" Frankie cried, rushing over with Merry, "A man just offered me fifty credits for something called a Dirty Sanchez!"

"Because a plan would be most helpful right about now," Jan continued to snipe, voice flat and openly mocking.

"Maybe you'd have better luck flying an Alliance ship," Ace went on, the expression on her pretty face clearly one of scheming, "An Alliance ship would probably fly closer to an Alliance simulator program, right?"

"Seriously!" Hunter moaned, "My kidneys are going to _explode_ any second!"

"What's a Dirty Sanchez?" Merry inquired curiously.

"Unless you're ok with starving a pair of poor, defenseless orphans," Jan accused brightly.

"You said yourself, Mouse!" Ace went on, rather worked up about it now, "They owe us! I don't see how we can justify _not_ stealing one of their ships!"

"It can happen, you know!" Hunter persisted unrelentingly, "It's a real medical concern! You'll all suddenly hear a dull series of pops and then I'll be on dialysis for the remainder of my significantly shortened lifespan!"

"Should we go back and ask him what it is?" Frankie questioned innocently, glancing over her shoulder at a fat little bald man who was leering at her quite openly, "I mean, we need the money, right? And how bad could it be if he'd just ask me for one walking down the street?"

"Which I guess if you are, then it's ok to just keep walking and not give another thought as to how we are all going to feed ourselves," Jan put in casually.

"Do you really want my exploded kidneys and lifetime of inconvenient dialysis on your conscience?" Hunter demanded crossly, "Especially after crashing the shuttle?"

"Enough!" Dana barked, absolutely irritated by the complaints and bickering, suddenly aware that all nine of them were together again, that they were starting to draw an inordinate amount of suspicion from the attachments of Alliance troops stationed throughout the marketplace. He looked around, blue eyes wide with panic as the soldiers began closing in around them from all directions.

"We're made," The large brunette hissed beneath his breath, carefully scooping Murphy up off the ground and nodding towards Kelly as he instructed simply, "Sally?"

"On it," Salvatore responded, grabbing the skinny boy and swinging him onto his broad back. Hazel eyes huge with fear, Kelly hung on for dear life.

"New plan," Dana announced, grabbing Hunter by the hand as he picked up his pace, "Stay together and be ready to run on my signal." He scrutinized the closest soldier, thirty yards and closing, and reported, "They have the sonic rifles. Watch out and try not to get hit because you will be unconscious for the subsequent four to six hours. If anyone does get hit, we pick them up and keeping running. Nobody gets left, _dong ma_?"

"As if you needed to tell us," Ace answered, rolling her eyes as she took Merry's and Frankie's hands.

Already tuning out from the continued snarking and backtalk of his brothers and sisters, Dana watched the soldiers' progress, waiting anxiously for a break, any break, to get away safely.

And then he saw it. They were approaching an intersection of aisles where the thicker crowd and vendors' booths would momentarily block them from view. Dana decided very quickly that they had to take the opportunity. "Sally, Ace," He murmured, "Up ahead. We're ducking between the dog meat and the parasols when I give the all clear, then we're trying for the alley of those buildings three rows over."

He got nods of agreement and again picked up his pace, not wanting to look too eager but also wanting to get out of sight of the soldiers as quickly as possible.

As soon as they moved into the right position, the teen ordered, "Go!" All as one, the group of nine ducked sideways, darting into the narrow space between two of the booths and emerging onto the next aisle to sounds of shouting and urgent radio calls and a search already underway behind them.

"Keep moving," Dana supplied, still dragging Hunter as he hoisted little Murphy higher up on his hip, "Just keep moving and try not to draw attention."

"Hey! You! Stop right there!"

"_Go-se_."

They were surrounded, even more soldiers than they left in the last aisle marching in fast. All eyes were wide, frozen with fear and panic, and it looked like the end.

But then Ace stood up onto a stack of boxes, pointing wildly down the corridor as she shrieked, "LOOK OUT!! HE'S GOT A BOMB!!"

The effect was instantaneous: screams, stampeding, general mass hysteria. With all the pushing and shoving and fleeing for their very lives, the crow became a convenient and effective barricade between the children and the soldiers.

Grateful for the cover, Dana dragged his group along until they were able to make it to the next aisle. He almost thought they were in the clear. But they were about to duck through to the last aisle and the young man heard, "HALT!! You are bound by law to stand down!!"

Dana turned just in time to see the face the young soldier, just in time to see that he'd pulled the trigger of the stunner that was pointed directly at the teen. There was only enough time to spin around, to take the blast with his back, to use his body to shield little Murphy.

And then... darkness.

xxXxx

"Today is a good day," Captain Malcolm Reynolds beamed, strutting into the kitchen of his cargo ship for a well deserved snack.

"That bump to the noggin alter your personality, sir?" His first mate teased drolly, seated at the table and not bothering to look up from the math homework she was currently helping her scowling eight-year-old boy with, "Should I be fetchin' the doc?"

Mal just smiled, not letting anything get him down, not even the large and painful lump he had on his head. "Nope," He answered, "Just in a good mood, is all. And why shouldn't I be? We got cargo!"

"Oh ya?" Zoe asked disinterestedly, one hand drawing soothing circles on her son's back, "Carry the one, baby."

"I was gonna!" Gabriel Washburne cried out indignantly, lightly-freckled light-coffee face set firmly in an expression of annoyance. "This is stupid!" He whined, turning his pencil over and erasing nearly a half page worth of incorrect calculations, "I hate math! Why do I gotta learn it?"

Smiling in serene bemusement, Zoe bent to brush a kiss across the boy's forehead, ruffling his mop of dark red-gold curls as she answered, "Because you need it for everything. Your old man uses it to chart our courses, the captain uses it to add up our cashy money, and Aunt River uses it to do those gun tricks you like so much."

Defeated, Gabe settled back into glaring at and attempting to defeat his page of addition and subtraction. Math might be a bitch for the boy, but he knew that it would go down a hell of a lot easier than his mama ever would.

"Fireworks!" The captain cut in excitedly, drawing Zoe's attention back his way.

"Fireworks, sir?" She asked, giving him a critical stare, "We're transportin' fireworks? Are you sure that's wise?"

Mal frowned, "Why wouldn't it be? All the kids know better than to mess around in the cargo."

"Ain't the kids I'm worried about," Zoe replied flatly, "Or are you forgettin' the man-child I'm married to? Not to mention Jayne?"

Still frowning, the captain declared, "It'll be fine. I'll be just promise 'em some leave time when we get to Cinnabar. Long as it's not on my ship, they can blow themselves up for all I care."

"Who's blowin' up?" Jayne grunted as he came lumbering through, his pretty baby girl giggling as she clung to his leg.

"Now, that'd be up to you," The captain responded, munching happily on a handful of carb wafers, "We're haulin' fireworks and if you stay out of 'em 'til we get where we're goin', I'd be much obliged to buy a few boxes for you, Wash, and the other children."

Jayne grinned. "I think I can do that," He said, picking up his leg to address the strange growth attached to it, "Whacha think, Melody-doll? Should we be good so's the captain'll buy us fireworks to play with?"

"YA!!" Melody Cobb chirped happily, long dark hair touching the floor as she leaned back to smile brilliantly up at her father, "Can Gabe play, too? And Noah, and Lukas, and Ben?"

"'Course, baby doll," Jayne answered, "If you can get that stick out a' your uncle's _pi-gu_."

"You leave the doc alone, Jayne," Zoe warned, still not picking her eyes up from Gabe's progress on the math sheet, "The man's stressed enough as it is dealin' with his three hellions without you pokin' fun at him."

"They are a spirited bunch," Mal remarked, tone wavering indecisively between fondness and terror, "Who'd've thunk triplets just happen to run in our lil' Kaylee's family?"

On cue, the ominous sound of screaming laughter and three sets of six-year-old feet pounding into the cargo bay echoed through the kitchen. It was followed shortly after by Simon's frantic, "Noah! Noah! Stop! Please, get down from there!! It's not safe! Lukas, don't put that in your mouth! You don't know where it's been!! ARRRG!! BEN!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO!!"

Mal shivered involuntarily.

Terror. It was definitely terror.

"Don't you think you and Jayne oughta help the man, sir?" Zoe inquired, fixing her captain with a cold stare that clearly suggested it wasn't so much a request as a cleverly phrased order.

"But..." Mal gaped, looking around for a place to hide, "But if we go down, then they'll know we're here."

"I'm with the captain," Jayne piped up, scooping Melody up off the ground and hugging her in front of himself like a shield, "I dodged a bullet not gettin' one of the monstery types. I'm thankful and I'd like to keep my distance, 'les it proves to be catchin'."

Again, that Zoe-stare made an appearance, the soldier herself questioning, "You tryin' to tell me two grown, heavily-armed men are afraid of three small boys?"

Scoffing, Mal joked, "Let me think-" He shared a quick look with Jayne before the both of them declared, "Hell ya."

"DADDY!! DADDY!! LOOK!! I LEARNED HOW TO FLY!!"

_THUD_.

Noah's wails traveled surprisingly well through the ship.

Jayne snorted, biting back laughter; that boy was no top three percent.

Kaylee finally made an appearance, covered head to toe in grease as she ran through the kitchen. Mal barely had time to ask, "Boat fixed?"

"Ya, Cap'n," The woman said, waving him off as she ran to her screaming child, "It's all shiny. We can take off whenever you want. Simon!! What did you to do my boys? Can't you keep them from gettin' hurt for two gorram minutes?"

The captain's spirits were inappropriately high, his thumbs finding purchase on his suspenders as he beamed, "Yup. Good day. Start roundin' up the remainder of my crew, please. I'd like to be off world 'fore it gets dark."

xxXxx

"PSSST!!"

The panicked herd of children flinched, all who were conscious looking wildly about the shady alley. There was nothing and no one to be seen, just sinister shadows and unpleasant smells and the sounds of soldiers closing in behind them.

"PSSST!!"

"What the gorram hell?" Ace hissed, struggling under Dana's weight as she and Sally carried their out-cold older brother along.

"PSSST!! Nine should come this way!!"

"Who's there?" Hunter challenged, taking a step to investigate the voice but instantly getting yanked back by Jan.

"We have to leave!" The brunette boy proclaimed, "We have to hide! It'll only be a matter of time before they find us if we stay in one spot too long!"

"Nine should come this way! Safe passage to _Serenity_!"

Sally and Ace exchanged skeptical glances and then nearly jumped out of their skins when a dark-haired waif in a pink flower-print sundress and heavy black combat boots stepped out of the shadows directly to their left. She gave them a loopy, beaming smile before gesturing behind herself. "Come," She said, "Hurry. Safe passage to _Serenity_."

They were going to refuse, of course. Even the Alliance's severely sub-par parenting had included a "don't talk to strangers" lesson or two. However, Ace and Sally could hear the soldiers getting closer as they swept the alleys. Dana was unconscious so that put them in charge and they had exactly three seconds to make a decision that would determine the rest of all of their lives.

"Alright," Ace said, sharing a look with Sally before nodding to the others, "Follow the lady. But keep close and... uh... don't take any candy from her."

The small woman, whoever she was, gave a squeal of joy, jumping up and down and clapping her hands together excitedly before turning to lead them into the shadow. She moved behind a stack of rotting crates and gestured to a manhole cover that had already been pried up from the ground. "Nine first," She said, "Ladder to the bottom, then wait for illumination."

They moved quickly. Ace went first to catch Dana as Sally lowered him in. Sally oversaw the others getting down, Murphy, then Kelly, then Hunter and Jan--pushing and shoving the whole way--then Merry and Frankie, and finally Sally himself. He splashed down with a cringe into the muck and the mire.

"It seriously reeks down here," Hunter observed. Even though it was dark, everyone could tell she was wrinkling her freckled nose in disgust.

From above, they heard the woman slide the manhole cover back into place, plunging them into total darkness just in time for the clomping footsteps of soldiers to pass by. Then there was silence. The group waiting with baited breath and plugged nostrils and stifled gag reflexes for some kind of sign as to what their next move should be.

A little ways down the pipe, a small light turned on, followed by the command, "This way! _Serenity_ is this way!"

"How did she..." Merry wondered out loud, just as vexed as the rest of his siblings.

"I don't know," Ace panted, still struggling to hold Dana's limp body out of the river of sewage, "Sally? A little help?"

Salvatore groped his way towards his sister's voice, stumbling no less than three times and getting splashed all over with the foul substance they were standing in before he finally got close enough to relieve her of Dana's weight. "Remind me again why we thought this was a good idea?" He grunted, his generally foul temper growing fouler by the second.

"Never said it was a good one," Frankie chirped.

Instinctively, they all sensed Merry nod in agreement before he added, "Ya. It was a last resort. Standing knee-deep in raw sewage is always pretty much a last resort."

"I dunno," Kelly mused quietly, "Without the smell it's not so bad... kind of like a cave, or an underground maze thing."

"Oh, _bi-zui_," Ace snapped, pissed because something was dripping into her blonde hair and definitely not in the mood for Kelly's unique brand of unwavering optimism.

"Come on!!" The woman called again, waving her light at the stationary group, "This way! Hurry!"

"Should we follow her?" Frankie asked.

"Probably not," Hunter replied smartly, "She's probably a pedophile."

"She's too little to be a pedophile," Jan argued, "Even Murph could take her."

They all heard Hunter give the boy a shove as she said, "Size is not a factor in pedophilia! It's a psychological disorder!"

"Well, could we please make up our minds?" Sally requested, grunting as he hefted Dana's large body over his broad shoulders, "Mouse here is not as light as he looks."

They all snickered.

"Alright," Ace declared, "We'll follow her. But, seriously, stay close. Does someone have Murphy's hand?"

"Ya, I do," Kelly answered.

Rolling her eyes, Ace scoffed, "Wonderful. And who's got Kelly?"

"HEY!"

"Shut it, runt," Jan growled, seizing the boy roughly by the shirt collar, "I got him."

"Alright," Ace went on as she started after the light up ahead, "I'll trust the rest of you not to get lost... oh my God, it reeks so bad!"

xxXxx

"Glad you decided to grace us with you presence, Ambassador," Mal joked lightly as he watched a very pregnant former-Companion come waddling down the steps and into the cargo bay.

Glaring venomously, Inara Serra snarled, "Go to hell, you _gui sunzi_!"

"Whoa," Mal gasped, taken aback, "Usually we dance around a bit 'fore gettin' to the cussin'. What crawled up your petticoat?"

The petite woman's nostrils flared wildly, like an ornery bull about to charge. "You, eight months ago!!" She shrieked, practically frothing at the mouth as she advanced on the hapless captain, "You did this to me!! I'm bloated, and awkward, and look like a walrus, and it's _all your fault_!!"

"Well, darlin'," Mal argued, trying to maintain a smidgeon of the dignity befitting his role as captain even as he allowed himself to be backed up against the hull, "I do recall you bein' there as well. Might even say an active and enthusiastic participant."

If looks could kill...

"Ow."

Inara's face contorted with pair, her hands falling to rest of the swell of her stomach. Instantly, Mal's demeanor went from jokingly frightened to deeply concerned. "You ok, _bao bei_?" He asked, carefully reaching out to lay a hand over the top of hers.

"Yes," She answered, voice weak and helpless for a brief moment. Almost as quickly, she was all rage again, punching Mal in the arm--a lot harder than he'd ever admit to--and snapping, "Your unruly child is just chewing on my insides again!!"

"Well," The captain mused, casually rubbing his shoulder, "He must be mad at you for somethin'."

"Excuse me?" Inara demanded, indignant and highly dangerous.

Grinning sheepishly, Mal got down on one knee. As he took both her hands in his, Inara rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Not this again..."

"Now, I can't _guarantee_ marryin' me will get the inside chewin' to stop," Mal stated, pulling out a yet unopened ring box for the seventy-third time in the last seven months, "However, way I see it, ensurin' the kid ain't gonna be born a bastard will give him one less legitimate reason to be doin' it."

"How romantic," The former-Companion deadpanned, already trying to tug her hands out of the captain's grasp.

"'Nara," He begged, stubbornly refusing to let go as he stared up at her with an open, hugely vulnerable expression of love, hope, and devotion, "Please?"

It was the first time he'd said please.

That it took the infuriating man seven months to do so spoke volumes about his unfitness as a husband, and as a human being.

However, he'd finally said it. For a long few seconds, Inara's resolve wavered.

"AW!! Cap'n, are you proposin' again?" Kaylee's happy, somewhat grating voice cut through the cargo bay, "That's sweet!! Nara, you just gotta say yes this time!! A weddin' would be so shiny!!"

Suddenly coming to her senses, Inara recoiled her hand. "Mal..." She offered feebly, hating the way his face fell, hating the way she could've prevented it and didn't, all because she didn't want him to want to marry her purely out of obligation to their child, "Mal, I-"

"S'alright," He shrugged, trying to play off the whole event as he stood back to his full height. After fiddling with the ring box for a moment, he stashed it back in his pocket, where, unknown to Inara, he'd been carrying it for well over a year. "I got a whole 'nother month to wear you down," Mal announced, bolstering himself up from the latest rejection, "Guess I'll just have to step up my efforts. How does three proposals a day from now until when you say yes sound?"

The dark-haired woman gently raised one fine eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?" She asked.

"Threatenin' is such a _harsh_ word," Mal answered, grin broad as he moved past Inara, getting unnecessarily close and deliberately brushing up against her swollen breasts in a highly distracting manner.

Damn that man.

She huffily stomped off back to her shuttle. Well, really, it was more of a waddle, but may the Shepherd's good and fluffy Lord have mercy on any person stupid enough to tell her so.

"Kaylee!!" The captain cried out to the puppy-eyed mechanic looking down from the catwalk, "We got all hands? I want off this world!"

"All except River, Cap'n," The woman answered sheepishly, "She still ain't back from... whatever it is she left in a hurry for."

"False."

Mal jumped and squeaked in a highly unmanly fashion. "Lil' Albatross," He gasped, trying desperately to maintain his composure and get his heartbeat back to a normal rhythm, "How many times I gotta tell you not to sneak up me like that?"

With a bright smile, the petite woman answered, "All signs indicate at least once more."

Mal glared.

And then he caught a whiff of her.

"Oh, EW!!" He choked, retreating backwards a few stumbling steps as his hands came up to cover his nose, "What the ruttin' hell? You been rollin' around in a sty?"

"No," River said, frowning as she looked down at her sewage spattered legs and dress. She took a ginger sniff of herself and cringed. "Guiding the Nine," She announced dolefully, "Playing Virgil to their Dante. Unpleasant aroma must be remnant of the Eighth Circle, Second Bolgia."

"Riiight..." Mal drawled flatly, "'Cuz that makes perfect sense... just... just go take a shower! No, wait, on second thought, stay right there and I'll fetch the hose! Don't want you trackin' nothin' through my ship!"

River glared.

And then she remembered her purpose.

"SANCTUARY!!!" She suddenly bellowed, making the captain once again jump.

"Huh?" He squeaked in pure bewilderment.

"Invoking rights of asylum," River explained quietly, like she hadn't just screamed for no reason at all. She began tugging on Mal's hand, desperately pleading, "Captain must promise his protection for the lost and forgotten nonet!"

Confused and disturbed, the old browncoat kindly soothed, "Oh, lil' River, you ain't lost or forgotten. And you know you always got a home on this ship."

Pouting, River continued to yank on his arm and insisted, "No! Captain must promise protection! Did it once, now must do it again! Assurance is _vital_!!"

"Alright, alright," Mal gave in, having learned over the years that doing so is the easiest course of action in those types of situations, "I promise. What's this about?"

River shot him a beaming smile, then turned and bounced away. "I shall inform the dinosaur wrangler of our need for an immediate departure," She chirped happily, "We must be airborne before the feds think to search the docks."

And then she was gone, upbeat humming and pungent smell lingering after her.

For a long few moments, Mal stood in silent confusion.

And then his reader's words clicked.

"Feds?" He shrieked, blue eyes widening as he ran after the girl, "What do you mean feds? What the hell'd you do? What the hell'd I just agree to? Hey! Lil' Witch! Get back here! As the captain a' this ship, I order you to get your narrow behind back here right this second!!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

bi-zui - shut up

hun-dan - son of a bitch

pi-gu - ass

gou-shi dui - pile of dog crap

go-se - crap

dong ma - understand

gui sunzi - bastard

bao bei - sweetheart

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Bastille - French for fortress, castle, or stronghold; formerly a prison in Paris, formally known as Bastille Saint-Antoine. It housed a great number of political and religious prisoners and "seditious" writers. On July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille became one of the events that marked the beginning of the French Revolution. It is still celebrated by the national holiday Bastille Day.

_Stepmotherhood: How to Survive Without Feeling Frustrated, Left Out, or Wicked _- a book by Cherie Burns. Like the Firefly 'verse, I don't own it.

Cinnabar - a common mercury-based ore that is red in color.

Eighth Circle, Second Bolgia - Dante's _Inferno_ is the story of a journey through Hell. The Eighth Circle, called Malbolge, is listed as the one in which the fraudulent, those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil, are punished. They are divided into ten "evil ditches" called _bolgie_. In the Second Bolgia, flatterers are steeped in human excrement.

Nonet - a group of nine.


	3. Part 3: Pater Noster

Part 3 - Pater Noster

Malcolm Reynolds had a migraine, one of those ones that start right between the eyes and throb and stab until a person's whole head feels like it might just explode at any second.

Yup, he had one of those.

His most recent attempt at formulating a rational reaction to his situation once again fell dead on his lips. Nothing seemed even remotely appropriate and he was gorram certain he was far too old for this sort of _go-se_.

He had _nine_ stowaways on his ship, five boys and four girls ranging through older teens to younger teens to wide-eyed children. All of them were covered head to toe in sewage; one of them, one of the older boys, was unconscious and laid out across his bay floor.

And he couldn't get a straight answer out of the other eight because, as soon as he found them hidden behind a crate of fireworks in the cargo hold, marched them out into the open, and demanded an explanation, they _all _started talking at once.

"-it was Ace's idea!"

"-we didn't want Mouse to die!"

"-he crashed the shuttle!"

"-the feds were chasing us through the market!"

"-we almost got caught!"

"-they were going to shoot Murphy!"

"-then we followed the weird lady into the sewer and to this ship!"

"_Where_ is the bathroom?"

"_Ta ma de_!_ Ni-men de bi-zui_!" The captain finally screeched, seriously about to develop an ulcer.

"We got a problem, sir?" Zoe's calm, even voice inquired as Mal instinctively felt his first mate take her place at his side.

"Ya," He stated, glad that the chatter had finally died down after his outburst, "Stowaways. Tell your husband to turn around so we can put 'em back where they belong."

"No!" River cried out, rushing to put herself between the browncoat and the kids, "Baby bears belong with Mama Bear and Papa Bear and Littlest Sister For Now Bear! Not stowaways! No putting back! Captain promised!"

"I didn't know _what_ I was promisin'!" The man insisted furiously, head spinning from the random and excessive use of the word _bear_, "And I ain't takin' in no more strays! Still haven't managed to get rid a' the last two!"

River's big brown eyes welled up with tears. "Captain wishes me gone?" She whimpered, voice wobbling and bottom lip shaking pathetically.

Mal cracked in an instant. "Hey! Whoa! No!" He cried out, backtracking as quickly as he possibly could, "That ain't what I meant, girl, and you ruttin' well know it! Don't you _dare_ start cryin' on me!"

"Captain wishes the girl gone!" River blubbered miserably, one fat, shining drop of salt gliding down her cheek, "Uses cruel words to shoot his albatross and now the ship is lost at sea, lost to the unmerciful hands of Night-Mare and Death!"

"Nobody's gettin' shot and nobody's gonna die!" The forty-year-old captain insisted, very close to panic.

Why did they always have to _cry_?

With a groan, he let his throbbing head fall into his hands and muttered, "What do you want?"

"Safe passage," River sniffled pitifully, "Sanctuary for my children." Turning, she threw her arms around a young-looking teenage boy with messy brown hair and startled cobalt eyes, burying her face against his chest. He pointedly refrained from returning the touch, backing up a few steps and trying to shake the petite woman off as he glanced about awkwardly.

The ginger-haired girl standing at his side shot the boy a know-it-all smile. "Told you so," She sang teasingly, "_Pedophile_."

Glaring, Mal snapped, "I don't recall givin' you permission to speak, lil' girl."

"I don't recall _asking_ for it, old man," The freckled teen quipped in reply, slim body falling into a stance that just screamed attitude and defiance.

"My boat, my rules," He answered challengingly, "You wanna stay, you best follow 'em."

Not seeming like she cared all that much, the girl opened her mouth again. However, before she could respond, a broad hand was clapped over it. Mal looked up into a pair of startling indigo eyes staring out of an olive complexioned face with harsh, stony features about three feet above his own. An older teenage boy with black hair, a broad chest, and massive, muscular arms gave him a nod of both greeting and compliance.

"Nine can stay?" River asked, finally picking her face up out of the smaller, wirier boy's chest. She wiped her eyes and gave a watery smile as she read the answer on the captain's face. "Nine will stay!" She laughed, bouncing up and down happily and still refusing to release the uncomfortable teenager.

"I'd like some answers 'fore I decide anything for certain," Mal said, folding his arms across his chest and giving the ragtag assembly a speculative once over, "But let's get ya'll hosed off first."

"What about Mouse?" The oldest girl, a fairly tall blonde with oddly familiar blue eyes chirped up, gesturing to the unconscious behemoth arranged on the cargo bay floor. He had brown hair, buzzed short in a military fashion. He looked a bit like the black-haired boy, but with slightly softer features and lighter skin. He wasn't moving and his breathing was shallow.

"Any idea what's wrong with him?" Mal inquired as he stooped to take a strong but rather erratic pulse from the young man's neck.

"Yes, sir," A younger boy, skinny with blonde curly hair and bright hazel eyes, answered sheepishly, "He got hit in the back with a sonic rifle blast when we were trying to get away from the feds."

Pleased to have found a bit of the respect he so craved, Mal smiled gently as he stood once more. "Should be up and about in a few hours then," He reported, "But I wouldn't see any harm in the doc takin' a look at him... after we get ya'll hosed off. Zoe?"

"Yes, sir?" His first mate answered flatly, her unreadable gaze locked on the newcomers as she continued to size them up us potential enemies.

"Get the hose from Kaylee, summon the good doctor, and tell Jayne he's on rugrat duty 'til we figure out what's goin' on," Mal ordered lightly, turning around and taking the stairs two at a time. He wanted to tell Wash to reduce speed just in case they did end up having to turn the ship around.

xxXxx

A half hour later, the nine stowaways plus River were clean, if still a little damp, and dressed in fresh clothes. The captain made a mental note to be very worried about how his witch had just _happened_ to have garments of all necessary sizes on hand for the herd of children.

They were in the common area. Most of the kids were seated around the table. The youngest looking child, a tiny little girl with long blonde curls, was curled up half-asleep on the black-haired young man's lap all the way at the opposite end. The two brunettes Mal had taken to be twins from their almost identical faces, a boy and a girl, along with the youngest blonde boy, were giggling in low voices as they munched on freeze-dried, imitation-cheese protein snacks. River had yet to let go of the teen she'd latched onto, and was hugging him close, petting his sandy brown hair, and cooing gently into his ear. The boy looked highly uncomfortable. The redhead was sitting beside him, laughing her narrow behind off. The large unconscious one was spread out on the couch against the far wall with the doc monitoring his vitals.

And Mal and Zoe were standing over the oldest girl at the head of the table, waiting for the tall, leggy blonde to begin some kind of explanation. She kept glancing at the unconscious boy, like she wanted desperately for him to wake up, and Mal figured that he was probably the one who was usually in charge of the group.

"How 'bout some names?" The captain prompted as warmly as he could manage, figuring it would be easiest to start off small and with as little hostility as was possible.

The girl looked plainly panicked, fidgeting with the ends of her long, wet hair and glancing between the unconscious boy and the black-haired boy, searching for a course of action.

"Do not fear," River soothed quietly, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder, "You have found sanctuary in _Serenity_. Criminal transgressions are badges of merit."

Seeming a little more at ease, the girl nodded and gestured to herself as she began, "Well, I'm Ace. Ace Keaka-" She pointed to the twins. "That's Merry and Frankie Freely-" Both paused and waved brightly before going back to their discussion. "The little one next to them is Kelly Green-" The small boy gave a friendly wave and grin, mouth full to bursting and already pinchable cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's. "At the end there is Sally Damiani and Murphy Gold-" The giant with black hair nodded solemnly and the tiny blonde girl yawned as she cuddled against his chest. "Hunter Zehna's the ginger kid-" The ginger kid was red in the face and didn't halt her hysterics to make any sign of acknowledgment. "The one getting molested is Jan Novik-" River squeezed the teenager tighter and he shot the captain a pleading look, blushing from head to toe. "And you got Dana Mao on the couch over there."

"Speakin' a' that," Mal cut in flatly as his gaze swept to the area in question, "How's the big guy doin'?"

Simon looked up, taking off his stethoscope and looping it around his neck as he announced, "I'm sure he'll be sore when he wakes up but he doesn't appear to be hurt."

"Good news," The captain mused, turning back to Ace, "Now that that's all out a' the way, explain to me how ya'll came to be on my ship."

The expression of uncertainty and borderline panic made another appearance on Ace's face. She looked to Dana, found out he was still unconscious, then to Salvatore. He merely nodded, thick arms tightening around the sleeping girl in his lap.

"Alright," Ace breathed, "Alright, we're fugitives."

"_Ni ta ma de_._ Tian-xia suo-you-de ren_._ Dou gai-si_," Mal groaned desperately, "Not again!"

"We escaped off the Bastille moon about three days ago," The girl continued, "We stole a laundry shuttle. Mouse- er, Dana crashed it yesterday. We were trying to lay low, but the feds made us in the marketplace. When Dana got hit, we grabbed him and ran into the alley he'd told us to shoot for. We met the lady there and she brought us here."

"Wasn't that thoughtful," Mal chirped sarcastically, giving his reader the evil eye.

"It's not like it's our fault," Merry observed wisely.

Frowning, the captain answered, "Didn't say it was... uh, what was your name again, son? Frankie?"

Frowning, the boy replied, "No, I'm Merry. It's short for Meredith." He pointed to his twin sister, "She's Frankie, short for Frances."

"Fascinatin'," Mal went on, "But, gettin' back to my earlier point, it may not be your fault River decided to smuggle you aboard my ship." He turned very quickly on the mind-reading genius, snapping, "And, yes, I do appreciate the irony in that, Lil' Witch."

River beamed.

"However, I am now presented with the unique and never-before-encountered problem of _nine_ fugitives onboard my boat," Mal said in his best captainy voice, "And it is a mighty large problem. What do you propose I do if not turnin' this boat around and droppin' you right back off?"

After a few moments of silence, Frankie cautiously raised her hand.

"Yes," Mal called sweetly, "The pretty young lady with the nice manners."

Blushing lightly, Frankie suggested, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, we'd be grateful to get dropped on any rim moon."

"Somewhere with few Alliance patrols, please," Merry agreed heartily, "Just so we have a chance at staying clear of them."

"We..." Ace began sheepishly, "We can't pay you right now. We don't have any money. But we're all hard workers and I'm sure it wouldn't take us long to raise the fares once we settle down somewhere. We could send it to you after you drop us. We're good for it."

Mal turned to River. She was still hugging Jan and she looked up at the captain with huge, watery puppy eyes, bottom lip jutting out pitifully.

Mal sighed. "Zoe?" He said.

"Yes, sir?"

"This is one of those things I'm gonna regret, ain't it?"

The corner of the first mate's mouth twitched.

"It's likely, sir."

Facing the table full of stowaways once again, Mal pinched the bridge of his nose to fight the throbbing migraine still centered there and asked, "Is Cinnabar amenable to ya'll?"

"Never heard of it," Kelly announced, grinning from ear to oversized ear.

"It's one of the mining planets that orbits the gas giant Brahe," Hunter piped up smartly, wiping tears of laughter out of her light cornflower eyes as she finally got a hold of herself, "The fourth one in the system, after Hematite, Beryl, and Galena."

"Ain't Jayne from Galena?" Zoe inquired flatly.

Mal nodded, "I believe so. And thank you, Hunter, was it? for that very educational astronomy lesson. You got anything in that head a' yours about Bastille? 'Cuz that's one moon I ain't ever heard of."

"Well, you wouldn't have, would you?" The girl challenged. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen and obviously had a bit of a superiority complex. "The Alliance tries to keep its existence fairly quiet," She explained, "It houses the compound where they send the majority of the reclaimed children for re-education and military training."

"Reclaimed?" Mal asked with a frown, "You mean that Child Reclamation Act from years back? Thought that was just sposta take kids outta abusive homes. Why would they need a whole secret moon for that?"

Hunter smiled, declaring, "Because they don't just take kids out of abusive homes. They take us from _everywhere_. Anyone who's ever had any problem with the law is eligible to have their children seized. Even some that have never committed a crime in their lives aren't safe. The Act was never about _protecting_ us. It was about boosting dwindling troop numbers. The Alliance has been stockpiling its future generations of soldiers for over a decade and, now that the second war's broken out, they have plenty to send into battle. Most of us go straight to the front lines to die. That's why we had to escape." She gazed sadly at the unconscious body on the couch, "Mouse turns eighteen in a few days."

Mal was floored. The kitchen remained in a stunned quiet for what seemed like forever.

"Why do you call him Mouse?" The captain finally asked, because he couldn't yet wrap his mind around the other parts of what he just heard, didn't want to even think about the implications.

Merry smiled and said, "Because his last name is Mao. It kind of rhymes."

"And, of course, there is the ironic appeal of calling anyone who's six foot four, two-hundred pounds after a tiny rodent," Frankie added with a snicker.

"And because he doesn't like it," Kelly finished, giggling behind his hand.

With a gentle smile, Mal continued his questioning with, "Are ya'll brothers and sisters?"

"Half," Ace spoke up, "We have the same dad, all different moms, except for Merry and Frankie. They're twins."

"How'd that happen?" The captain went on.

"Well, in the case of fraternal twins, sometimes during ovulation a woman will release two eggs instead of one. If those two eggs both happened to be fertilized and implanted in the endometrial lining of the uterus-"

"_Ai ya_!" Mal cried out in horror, glaring daggers at Hunter's cheeky smirk, "That ain't what I meant, girlie!"

"Because all our moms were whores," Jan spoke up, still blushing and unable to detach River from his torso, "All different planets, different ends of the 'verse. After the Act, most of them died trying to keep us from getting snatched by the Alliance. Most of the ones who weren't are in prison. My mom, she's in prison somewhere on child endangerment and prostitution charges. They'll probably never let her out."

"That's part of the plan," Hunter proclaimed, "Kill or incarcerate anyone with knowledge of what the Alliance has been doing in order to keep it from leaking to the general public... I'm thinking of writing a book about it."

"Hmm," Mal mused, "Fascinatin'. So how do you know ya'll have the same dad?"

"I broke into the DNA lab when they first brought me to Bastille," Ace reported proudly, "They were keeping us all grouped in the same file."

"This father a' yours still out there? You know his name?" Mal asked, seeing an opportunity to possibly get the group of children to some place where they'd be safe with family, where they wouldn't end up on his ship for the next several decades.

"Man's alive far as we know," Ace answered, not sounding overly thrilled or scornful, "He's a wanted felon by the name of Jayne Cobb."

Mal's jaw dropped open in dumb shock.

And then the good captain laughed so hard he fell over and bashed his forehead on the kitchen table.

xxXxx

The boys were playing train job again, which meant that the cargo bay was full to bursting with the sounds of bellowing steam whistle hoots and sung gunfire.

"Bang! Bang! You'll never take me alive, you purple-belly scum!" At the very front end of the ship, near the airlock, a head of shaggy russet hair was momentarily visible as its owner peeked carefully over the top of a supply crate and then ducked back down for cover.

"Bang! Bang!" Came an answering call from the little brunette hidden underneath the stairs, "No, _you'll_ never take _me_ alive!"

"Ben!" Another voice near the side wall cried, "No fair! It's your turn to be the purple-belly!"

"Is not!" Benjamin Tam proclaimed loudly, "I was it last time! It's Noah's turn!"

"_Tsai boo shr_!" Noah proclaimed, a flash of russet hair once again briefly visible over by the airlock door, "I get a pass 'cuz you guys tied me up and got me left on Anacapa last time, 'member?"

"Oh ya," Ben agreed, giggling evilly with his brother Lukas at the memory, "But I'm still not it! It's not my turn!"

"Gabe!" Lukas cried out, tousled dark hair popping up from behind a fort made out of crates along the port side, "Will you be the purple-belly?"

A light-coffee face topped with dark red-gold curls hung down over the side of the catwalk, frowning. "No," The boy answered, "I'm the pilot. I gotta fly in and save you when you get pinched by the feds."

"Well," Six-year-old Noah proclaimed, "Somebody's gotta be the purple-belly!"

The bay descended into a brief silence.

And then all four boys called, "Uncle Jaaaayne!"

"What?" The mercenary grunted, trying furiously to grip the handle of a tiny pink plastic teacup between two large fingers. From across the weight bench, his dark-haired baby girl was giggling and daintily sipping air.

"Come play train job with us!" Lukas yelled, "We need somebody to be the purple-belly!"

Rolling his eyes and still fighting with the gorram ridiculous teacup, Jayne answered, "Can't you see I'm busy, boy?"

"No you ain't!" Noah claimed, "It's just a dumb tea party! We got a life or death situation over here!"

Melody's huge brown eyes went wide and glassy, the little five-year-old sucking in a big breath as her bottom lip shook.

Hell.

"Aw, don't cry, baby girl," Jayne soothed, plucking her up and hugging her fiercely, resolving to flush her obnoxious cousin out the airlock at the first available opportunity, "I love playin' tea party with you. It's the best game ever."

"Really, Papa?" She asked, sniffling bravely.

Nodding, the big merc replied, "'Course it is! My favorite ruttin' game in the 'verse 'cuz I get to play it with my little Melody-doll!"

That bright, beaming smile she inherited from her mother blossomed on the girl's pretty face and Jayne gave a deep sigh of relief.

"Hey, Mel!" Lukas called, "You wanna play train job?"

"Ok!" She chirped, distress instantly forgotten as she bounced off her daddy's lap and ran to join her cousins, "Can I be the princess?"

"Ain't no princess in train job!" Ben scoffed, absolutely scandalized.

Jayne sighed, stretching out across his weight bench as he listened to the bickering and play gunfights begin anew. He was gorram tired. It was hard to sleep when a man had a daughter whose brat cousins had told her there were space monsters under her bed, a daughter who woke up her fearless hero of a daddy every two hours to come and fight them off.

Getting comfortable on his back, Jayne closed his eyes, just for a second...

_WHAM_!

Startled out of his rest, Jayne sat up panicked. He quickly counted and vouched for the safety of all five kids. They were fine; they'd abandoned train job in favor of a rousing game of emergency surgery, more commonly known as "Oh no! Cap'n got shot again!" Melody was playing the captain, doing a pretty gorram good impression of the twitching and writhing and swearing of the original in the same situation. Jayne was so proud.

He didn't give anymore thought to the crash that woke him and watched lazily as the kids played in the cargo bay. Aside from breaking up one brawl between Lukas and Ben over whose turn it was with the imaginary scalpel, there wasn't much for Jayne to do over the next fifteen minutes or so.

The sound of wheels along the catwalk heralded Wash's arrival, the little man rolling into view and leaning his well-developed upper arms against the top of the safety screens Jayne installed on all sharp drops soon after Gabe started to crawl. "I'm to fetch you," The pilot stated with a broad grin, "At least I think I am. It was hard to understand over all the hysterical laughter and screaming."

Frowning, Jayne demanded, "What about the half-pints?"

"Gabe?" Wash called.

The eight-year-old looked up questioningly, long curls hanging in his dark eyes, "Ya, Pop?"

"Keep an eye on the youngsters," The little man instructed, "Don't let any equipment or bones get broken."

"Sure, Pop," The littler little man agreed, already going back to the game with a loud, enthusiastic cry of, "Oh no! Cap'n's heart's stopped again! Get the 'drenaline!"

Jayne took the stairs two at a time to the sounds of the life-saving efforts and Wash's laughter. "Are they playing 'Captain got shot again!' again?" He chuckled brightly, "I thought Mal banned that game years ago."

Snorting, the merc fell into step beside the rolling wheelchair and commented, "Since when does anybody on this boat listen to Mal?"

"Hmm," Wash chirped as he guided his chair along through the corridors and handicap-friendly ramps, "Excellent point."

They arrived in the kitchen to find the captain on the floor in absolute hysterics, doubled over and clutching his stomach as honest to God tears of laughter streamed down his flushed cheeks. He was bleeding from a large gash in his forehead.

"Stop laughing and sit still!" The doctor ordered impatiently, the young man with the prematurely receding and graying hair struggling to press a gauze pad against the gushing wound.

"I-I... ca-can't!!!" Mal answered breathlessly, laughing so hard he looked to be in pain, "If I... sto-stop... I'll... shoot so-somebody!!!"

"Mal finally lost it?" Jayne questioned tactlessly. All eyes flew to him and the big man got around to realizing the abundance of new faces. "Shiny," He went on indifferently, not really thinking too much of it, "I call his guns."

"Jayne!!" Mal cried, descending into out of control, hiccupping giggles as he swung his bloody hand towards the passengers, "Jayne!! Meet your kids!!" He got a bit incoherent after that.

Jayne turned to stare at the herd of children, opening his mouth to flat out deny the outrageous accusation. But then he saw several sets of his own eyes staring back at him, his own nose, his own hair, his whole gorram _face_ was in the passengers.

And River was hugging one of the boys.

Suddenly, the step-parenting books made perfect sense and Jayne couldn't think of anything to say.

He was only vaguely aware of his wife coolly sliding a chair beneath him two seconds before his knees gave out.

xxXxx

Dana woke with a pained groan, feeling like he'd been flattened by a cruiser. His neck, his shoulders, his spine, they were all one solid, aching bruise. He was stiff and eyes-shut dizzy.

But he still wrenched his fresh injuries forcing himself up sharply from the couch. Because he remembered exactly the situation he left his brothers and sisters in and he _had_ to make sure they were alright.

"Jesus, Mouse!" He heard he heard as a previously unnoticed weight lifted off his stomach, not getting his eyes to focus quite yet but able to make out a hazy blonde blur that sounded like Ace. "You scared the hell out of me!" She snapped, hands flying up to his shoulders as she gently but forcefully shoved him back down.

"What happened?" He demanded, fighting her ministrations as best he could. Given the situation, the young man was surprised he could move at all. "Where are we?" He went on, slightly panicked, "Did they catch us? Is everyone alright?"

"Relax," The girl instructed, "We made it and everyone's tip-top. Try to get some rest and I'll explain when you're feeling better."

"I feel fine!" He shouted, uncharacteristically loud and angry, starting to get annoyed as he once again pushed himself up into a sitting position, "I'm just great! Explain now!"

"Don't be alarmed," An unfamiliar voice cut in, making Dana's hackles rise, "A side-effect of sonic blasts is sometimes mood or personality shifts. Give him a few minutes and it should sort itself out."

"Who the gorram hell are you?" Dana shouted, struggling to his feet and stomping about. He was disoriented, could barely keep his balance, couldn't see, and had no idea why the floor sounded so loud when his feet came down on it or where the ringing in his ears was coming from. "Who the gorram hell are you and where are we?" He demanded once more, advancing in the direction he thought he heard the unfamiliar voice come from, "Answer me right now!!"

"Mouse, cool it!" Sally's gruff voice ordered.

For some reason Dana couldn't explain, he took a wild, blind punch in his younger, larger brother's direction. His fist connected with nothing but air and he spun and wobbled precariously, nearly losing his balance and taking a header into the floor. He caught himself, but it didn't really matter because Sally tackled him anyways, the burly seventeen-year-old easily pinning him face down against a threadbare rug.

"What the hell, Mouse?" He growled dangerously, his superior weight keeping Dana's arms exactly where quite painfully he twisted them, "Get it together! As fun as kicking your butt would be, I am _not_ in the mood right now!"

Dana closed his eyes and took a deep breath, aware of how crazy he was acting and trying to get it to stop. After a few long minutes, he looked around again. His vision was clearer and he didn't feel like hitting anyone.

"I'm ok," The young man stated dizzily, "I'm sorry. I don't... I don't know why..."

"It's alright," That mysterious voice comforted just before Dana had a tiny but painfully bright light pointed directly into both of his eyes, "It's a side effect of the rifle blast. Do you remember getting hit?"

Wincing, trying to nod and finding he couldn't with his face smooshed against the ground, Dana croaked, "Ya. Vividly."

"You can let him up," The voice stated, presumably talking to Sally, "The disorientation seems to have worn off and he should be fine."

"Whatever," Sally grunted, sounding pointedly disinterested. If Dana hadn't known him so well, he wouldn't have even suspected his brother's deep concern.

Slowly, Dana shoved himself into a sitting position and surveyed his surroundings. He was rather surprised to find himself in what appeared to be a large common room in some kind of spaceship. The unknown voice was connected to a short, very neat looking man who had bright blue eyes and dark hair shot through with bolts of silver at the temples. He leaned over Dana and continued to shine a little penlight in the teen's face.

As he was doing so, Dana glanced around for signs of the rest of his siblings. Sally had taken a knee beside him and was glaring in annoyance, dark cerulean eyes narrowed and black hair mussed from their brief fight. Salvatore was almost perpetually out of sorts about one thing or another though, so Dana didn't worry about him too much. He'd get over it.

Ace was on the floor next to the couch Dana realized he must have been laid out on when he woke up. She had her long legs draw up against her chest and was hugging them tightly, dark blonde hair loose around her shoulders as she stared blankly not at Dana but at the table near the other end of the room.

The rest were gathered around it, it and a hulk of a man seated at the head. Merry, Frankie, Jan, Hunter, Kelly, and Murphy had him surrounded, were chattering a mile a minute in that irritating way they tended towards when they were really, very, extremely excited about something. The man wasn't answering though; he looked like he might be in shock, mouth hanging open and blue eyes wide as he stared long at each of them in turn.

Dana looked back to Ace, frowning when he noticed that she was shaking, almost imperceptibly but enough for her very protective big brother to notice and worry.

"What's the word, Ace?" He asked quietly, reasonably sure they were safe for the moment as the man with the penlight finally left him alone and walked out of the room. He scooted along the floor to sit beside his sister.

She smiled weakly, leaning her head on Dana's shoulder as he slung a thick arm around hers. "Guess who he is?" The seventeen-year-old laughed dryly, cocking her chin at the big man at the head of the table.

After sparing him one more look, also finally noticing the slender, dark-haired woman hanging off of Jan, Dana turned back and asked, "Who is he?"

"Our father," The girl answered quietly, never taking her eyes off of him, "Jayne Cobb. That's _him_, Mouse."

The declaration took a few moments to process but, when it finally sank in, Dana's mouth dropped open in silent shock. He looked between the man and his sister at least a dozen times without saying a single word, not even beginning to know how to react.

He finally decided on a low, "Dang... I really can't leave you guys alone at all, can I?"

Ace snorted, breaking out of her uncharacteristic blankness for long enough to smack him hard in the stomach. "_Bi-zui_, you ungrateful ox!" She growled playfully, "We carried your fat ass at least five miles through a gorram sewer!"

"You mean _I_ carried his fat ass at least five miles through a gorram sewer," Sally corrected quietly, having become noticeably hypnotized by the man at the other side of the room... their father...

Whoa.

"That's really _him_?" Dana whispered in awe. He never expected to meet his father, and certainly never expected to run into him randomly. Then again, he never expected to become a fugitive from Alliance custody, either, so the week was one for unanticipated surprises.

At blank nods from both Sally and Ace, Dana pressed, "You guys just _ran into him_?"

"Nuh uh," Ace said, shaking her head as she laid it back down onto her brother's strong shoulder, "See the little woman molesting Jan? That's his wife... which I guess makes her our step-mother..."

The girl trailed off, seeming to get lost in that thought before Dana gave her a slight bump to get her attention again. She shook her head and continued, "Well, after you got hit, we made it to the alley and were just about to get cornered when she popped out of nowhere and told us we had to follow her, that we'd get safe passage. There wasn't much of a choice, so Sally and I decided it would be alright. She led us down a manhole, through the sewer, and onto this ship. The captain found us a little after takeoff. He was going to throw us off before she talked him into letting us stay."

Dana nodded, making a mental note to thank the woman who was compulsively hugging Jan as his little brother rapidly spouted a series of almost incoherent questions at their father.

"Captain Reynolds was grilling us for names and life histories and such," Ace continued, "Hunter got to give her massive government conspiracy speech."

"Oh," Dana cut in quietly, "That's nice. I know she's been working on it a lot since we decided to get out."

With a chuckle and a nod, Ace went on, "Eventually the subject of our parentage came up. I think he just wanted to know if there was someplace he could ditch us where we'd have some adult supervision-" Dana rolled his eyes, "-so I told him most of our mothers were either dead or in prison and that we'd never met our father, but that his name was Jayne Cobb. Turns out Jayne Cobb is a mercenary aboard and the captain laughed so hard that he fell over and smacked his head real good on the table."

Dana cringed in sympathy, "Ouch."

"Ya, it wasn't pretty," Ace agreed, brightening up quite a bit, "Dr. Tam, he was the one who checked your pupil reactions, he let me help him with the weaves."

Dana beamed with pride. Ace had received field medic training back on Bastille and had excelled greatly at it. When she reached the end of the rudimentary program (the Alliance didn't want the reclaimed soldiers getting _too_ knowledgeable), she'd been depressed for weeks. Now maybe there was a chance for her to be able to learn more about the subject for which she'd been so passionate.

"That's really him?" Dana asked once more after a long pause, "Really? How do you know for sure?"

"Because," Ace answered, rolling her eyes and growing slightly annoyed, "There are only so many men out there named Jayne Cobb. Besides, Dr. Tam told me that he was definitely involved in the heist at St. Lucy's in '17 and that he whored three laps around the 'verse before marrying Dr. Tam's sister... which I guess makes Dr. Tam our step-uncle..." Ace trailed off again, deep in thought.

"Still..." Dana argued, "It's kind of weird... how did the lady know we'd be in that alley? How did she know who we were? Or that we even existed?"

"I don't know, Mouse," Ace grumbled tiredly, her head once again coming to rest on his shoulder, "The crew's setting up some bedrolls for us in the cargo bay and then we're going talk more in the morning when Captain Reynolds comes off his smoothers."

"I guess..." Dana stated quietly, trailing off for a few long minutes. "So... what's he like?" The young man questioned softly, staring across the room at his father again, still caught in a surreal feeling of shock and disbelief.

"He hasn't said much," Ace answered, "Just kind of got a horrified look on his face and dropped down in that chair. The little ones have been badgering him for awhile but... I don't know... I just don't know how I feel about him... my ma always told me his name was Sperm Donor and that I shouldn't care about him because he probably wouldn't give a damn about either of us. I never really cared before..."

"But it's different now that we've actually found him," Her brother contributed wisely.

Ace nodded, "Ya."

They sat in silence for a few more moments, Dana sharing a significant glance with Sally before going back to watching Ace's pretty face, watching her ice blue eyes drooping with fatigue as she struggled to keep herself conscious. Tugging her more securely against his side, Dana wrapped both his strong arms tightly around her lean muscled body.

"Sleep, Ace," He mumbled against her damp blonde hair.

"Nah, I'm alright," She yawned, cuddling against Dana's broad chest, "It's just been a hell of a long day."

Chuckling, Dana replied, "Sure has. You did real good taking care of everybody. You and Sally, too."

Smiling softly, Ace answered, "Well, someone had to be in charge while you were napping."

"Brat," Dana laughed, lighting pinching the girl's side and making her giggle with her eyes still closed, "I can't pull rank on you anymore but I'll still beat your skinny behind if you keep mouthing off like that."

"Just try it," Ace snickered tiredly, "I'll get Sally to kick your butt again."

"He did not _kick my butt_!" Dana insisted in mock outrage, "I could barely see straight! It wasn't a fair fight!"

"Big talk, little Mouse," Sally teased dryly, a rare smile quirking the corners of his dark lips, "We can go again any time you're feeling up to it."

"Wouldn't want to hurt my baby brother," Dana countered with a grin, "What kind of monster would I be if I did such a thing?"

"What was that?" Sally drawled deeply, "I'm sorry, I don't speak big fat chicken."

The brother's stared at each other in silence, both narrowing blue eyes and trying hard not to smirk. It was a game they'd been playing for years and they'd never get tired of it.

"PAPA! PAPA! PAPA!" A small, very shrill voice echoed off the thick bulkheads three seconds before a little dark-haired blur came flying into the room and launched herself into Jayne's--Jayne Cobb, Holy Crap--massive arms. The brief moment it took for Dana to realize that the blur was in fact a little girl, said little girl began blubbering, "Papa, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make Cap'n get shot!"

"Huh?" Jayne grunted, quite obviously confused and alarmed by the declaration, squirming uncomfortably as the chatter of the children surrounding him died quite suddenly and they all gaped in awe.

"Cap'n's in the infirm'ry with Uncle Simon!" The girl sobbed miserably, smudging at her dark eyes with little grubby fists, "And I was makin' fun a' him 'cuz we were playin' 'Cap'n got shot again' and he told us not to 'cuz it would jinx him and that's what made him get shot again! I'm sorry! I don't want Cap'n to die!"

"Oh, baby doll," Jayne comforted gruffly, crushing her warmly against his chest, "That ain't your fault. Cap'n just whanged his head on the table and he's gonna be fine come mornin'. Don't cry."

Sniffling, the girl pouted up at him and questioned softly, "Really? You sure, Papa?"

"'Course I'm sure," The man answered resolutely, taking a deep breath of the little girl's hair as he glanced nervously around at his other children, "It'll take far more than a kitchen table to kill the cap'n. I'm thinkin' pro'ly somethin' along the lines of a stake to the gorram heart and even that ain't sure to do the trick. Man just _will not_ stay down."

"The Nine and Ten must be introduced," The slim woman hanging off of Jan ordered brightly, clearly pleased with the way things were progressing, "Solidarity will be found in shared patrilineage."

"Huh?" Both Jayne and Jan grunted at the same time, sounding disturbingly similar.

Rolling her eyes, Hunter piped, "It means we'll get along because we have the same dad. Jeez, Jan. Download a book once in awhile."

"Oh, bite me, fire-crotch."

"Soon as you grow to a decent mouthful, brother-mine."

The pair glared and then, just as quickly, lost interest in the joking spat. It would have worried Dana if Jan and Hunter _hadn't_ been snarking at each other.

Dana shivered, remembering such a time with dread.

Jayne's mouth was hanging open, like he wanted to say something but the words wouldn't come. He'd just started making a weak grunting noise when a tall, rather scary bronze-skinned woman appeared in the doorway, looked around, and strode into the room.

Dana recognized in an instant that she was at least former military. It was all over her in the way she carried herself, the way she walked and instinctively scanned the room for possible threats, the slightly excessive amount of weaponry, both obvious and concealed, on her person.

When she saw that he was awake, the woman nodded to Dana and announced, "Beds are ready if you kids wanna get some rest."

"Thanks," Dana replied, hardly heard over the disappointed whines from his siblings as they all began speaking at once, all claiming to not be tired and begging to be allowed to stay up with their father. "Come on, grunts," The young man yelled gruffly, discovering that Ace was sleeping peacefully against his side. He easily hefted her up with him as he got to his feet, cradling the tall girl in his arms and trying not to wince as he ordered, "You heard the lady. It's lights out. Move it!"

There were some lingering groans and colorful mutterings, but the younger kids all grudgingly trooped off in the direction of the cargo bay. Dana brought up the rear, earning an impressed nod from the woman. "You the C.O.?" She asked bluntly.

Trying not to disturb Ace too much, Dana shrugged and answered, "Guess you could say that. I prefer lion tamer. It's cooler and captures my job description far more accurately."

The woman did not appreciate the joke and, despite being taller than her, Dana suddenly felt very small under her stony stare. He swallowed hard and had to resist the urge to run and hide.

"I left some protein bars that ya'll are welcome to," She said, turning and walking off, disinterestedly motioning for Dana to follow, "But don't wander. Ships can be dangerous for folks who don't know what they're doin'."

"Yes, Ma'am," Dana replied dutifully as he trailed along in her wake.

"Don't worry 'bout settin' a watch," The woman went on, giving him a critical glance over her shoulder, "Every last one of you looks ready to drop and you need the sleep. You're perfectly safe here."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Dana answered once more, arriving at a catwalk that overlooked a wide open bay. On the floor of the next level, his siblings were talking, arguing, laughing fiercely as they all situated themselves down into a row of bedrolls.

The woman gave a terse nod and motioned for Dana to descend the stairs. Once he got down to the bottom, he carefully tucked in Ace and ordered the rest to quit fooling around and get into bed. They obeyed after only a few moments, going nearly quiet as they snuggled up in a big pile.

Merry and Frankie had turned their pair of bedrolls into one larger one and were under the covers, giggling softly. Sally was lying on his back, his thick arms folded behind his head of shaggy black hair as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. Murphy and Kelly were cuddled up close and already out cold on either side of him. Hunter and Jan were discretely yet purposefully and viciously kicking each other as they squirmed to get comfortable.

Dana smiled as he took in the sight.

And then the woman shut off the lights and the bay plunged into complete darkness for a few long moments before dim emergency bulbs eventually blinked on low against the floor. Within minutes, Dana was sound asleep.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

go-se - crap

ta ma de! ni-men de bi-zui! - damnit! everybody shut the hell up!

ni ta ma de. tian-xia suo-you-de ren. dou gai-si - everyone under the heavens ought to die

ai ya - damn

tsai boo shr - no way

bi-zui - shut up

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Pater Noster - Latin for "our father;" also another name for the Lord's Prayer in Catholicism.

Night-Mare and Death - two characters from the poem _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner_. Shooting the albatross causes the mariner's ship to be blown off course into Antarctica where a ghost ship is encountered. Night-Mare and Death are playing dice for the souls of the crew members. Death wins the souls of all the men except for the mariner, killing off all two hundred over the next seven days and nights. Night-Mare curses the mariner to a fate worse than death: to not die while plagued by the guilt of all he has brought upon his shipmates.

Brahe - Tycho Brahe was a 16th century astronomer whose research developed many important astronomical instruments.

Hematite, Beryl, and Galena - various metallic ores.

C.O. - Commanding Officer.

Wash being alive yet in a wheelchair - He didn't want to miss this but did get skewered pretty good; I couldn't just let him walk away from that... haha, good pun. I'm impressed with me. Aren't you? Review to show impressedness!


	4. Part 4: Trypanophobia

Part 4 - Trypanophobia

"_Mouse_."

The whisper was small but harsh, as insistent as the little finger that was poking him sharply right in the center of his forehead.

Dana's eyes flew open.

"Wha'izit, Murph?" He questioned blearily, awake but not entirely functioning as he sat up and peered around the darkened cargo bay for signs of a situation that might require his immediate attention. He groaned as he felt the soreness in his back, cursing the maker of the sonic rifle and the idiot who fired one at him both to the deepest depths of the most horrifying conception of hell.

Little Murphy's blue eyes were wide, her bottom lip trembling as she whimpered, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Dana blinked once, twice, then drawled, "Ok... permission granted. S'that all?"

"I don't know where it is!" The girl hissed, scowling at him in a clearly annoyed and highly twitchy manner. She shoved a handful of unruly curls back from her face before adding pitifully, "I don't want to go by myself! You have to come help me find it! Please, Mouse?"

Sighing heavily, the young man playfully countered, "I will if you quit calling me Mouse."

He regretted the comment in an instant; Murphy looked like she might cry.

"Kidding, Murph," He quickly soothed, struggling to get his massive frame out of the tangled bedroll before standing with a wince. Offering out a wide hand and an even wider grin, he sweetly stated, "Come on, little one. I'm sure there's something nearby. And when you're on a ship, bathrooms are called _heads_."

Despite having to navigate through the dark, they found the head easy enough, up the stairs, down the hall, and just past the kitchen. Dana leaned against the doorjamb, massaging his stubbed toes and aching back while he waited for his sister to do her business so he could lead her back to their beds and resume that wonderful thing that was sleep.

And he would have remained right where he was if a sudden clatter of glass and string of colorful curses had not echoed out of the dark room. "Who's there?" Dana called uncertainly, nervous because he'd been told not to wander and he was... well, wandering. Many years at Bastille had taught him that noble intentions meant nothing when it came to disobeying a direct order.

"Mal?" A gruff voice slurred uncertainly, followed by more sounds of empty bottles being overturned... followed shortly thereafter by the sounds of a chair and the body in it being overturned and hitting the floor quite roughly.

After groping along the wall for a moment, Dana found and flicked a light switch, illuminating the hulking shape of Jayne Cobb spread out in a rather painful looking sprawl across the thin rug on the floor. Dana knew from personal experience that the rug was not a comfortable thing on which to find oneself facedown.

"Are you alright?" He asked cautiously, quickly moving to help the man only to have his hands shoved away.

"'M fine," Jayne snarled crankily, slowly hefting his large body up and dropping limply back into the abused chair before taking another swig from the dark glass bottle clutched in his hand.

Frowning, Dana eyed the scene critically, taking into account the lack of balance, the slurred speech, and the abundance of empty liquor bottles before asking, "Are you drunk?"

A whimsical little twinkle appeared in Jayne's blue eyes, his mouth twisting into a giddy smirk before he recited, "Not drunk is a man who, from the floor, can rise ag'in an' drink some more!" He then began giggling so hard that he pitched himself backwards again, falling hard to the floor with a pained, "OOF."

Brow wrinkled, Dana again tried to help the man up, grumbling, "Just because you're my father, don't think you have to go getting all philosophical on me. I don't need your words of wisdom... especially not the ones that rhyme."

As he was being hauled back into the chair by the strong teen, Jayne was busy staring at him quite critically. "Which one're you?" The old man finally asked.

"I'm Dana," The boy answered flatly, unsure and just a smidge defensive.

Scrunching up his face in deep though, scratching at his dark beard, Jayne slowly accused, "Nah. That ain't what the others were callin' ya."

Dana rolled his eyes. "They _call_ me Mouse," He said, "My _name_ is Dana."

Jayne thought about it for a moment and then nodded, taking another swig from the bottle still clutched tightly in his hand before asking, "Which'm I sposta call ya?"

"Dana," The young man answered resolutely, standing awkwardly beside his father's chair and debating whether or not it was safe to leave him alone given the state he was in. He didn't get exposed to much drunkenness on Bastille. Sometimes soldiers would come in hungover from a night of partying and other times the cadets could, if they got really rowdy, the cadets could hear said parties from their barracks. Most of what Dana knew about drinking he knew from before Bastille, from his mother and her clients. The experiences were not favorable.

"Dana," Jayne repeated owlishly, "Dana... ok. Tha's fine. 'S a fine name."

Shrugging, Dana replied, "It works for me."

For a few long moments, Jayne just stared blearily up at his son. Dana couldn't read his face but squirmed with nerves. As much as he told himself he didn't care about what the man thought of him, he didn't want to be a disappointment.

Finally, Jayne gracelessly kicked out the chair beside his own and invited, "Take a seat, boy."

After glancing briefly over his shoulder towards where Murphy was still in the head, Dana somewhat reluctantly decided that it couldn't hurt anything to sit a spell with the man. It certainly beat leaning up against the cold metal of the doorjamb while he waited. He slowly lowered his broad body into the chair.

Jayne just stared at him for another few moments before asking, "How old're you?"

"Eighteen in a couple days," Dana replied flatly.

"Shit," His father laughed, draining his bottle and grabbing for another, "That makes me a' old man." He snapped the cap off of the new bottle, waving it at Dana as he offered, "You're 'bout grown. You want one?"

"No thanks," Dana said, nervously running his hand across the short brown stubble on his head, "I'm just waiting for Murphy. She'll get scared if I'm not here to walk her back to the bay."

Frowning in deep thought, Jayne inquired, "Which one's Murphy?"

"The youngest," Dana answered, "The little one with the blonde curls."

"Right," Jayne agreed, nodding resolutely. He took another drink before continuing, "The lil' cutie. What's the other blonde girl's name? The tall one what wouldn't get near me?"

Smiling slightly, Dana stated, "That's Ace."

Again nodding to himself, the man quietly recited, "Dana, Murphy, Ace..." After another drink, he went on, "Scrawny, really gorram cheerful boy?"

"Kelly," Dana answered fondly.

"The monster what tackled you when you went all woolly?" Jayne pressed, sounding genuinely interested and rather amused at the memory.

"Salvatore," Dana said, beginning to relax slightly, "But everyone calls him Sally."

Frowning, Jayne gruffly inquired, "He like bein' called that?"

Dana shrugged, stating, "He doesn't mind unless people make fun and he only had to break three or four jaws to get that point across."

With a proud smirk, the old man took another swig of beer and went on, "How 'bout the redhead? The one with the mouth on her?"

Dana returned the smile before answering, "That's Hunter."

"Dana, Murphy, Ace, Kelly, Sally, Hunter," Jayne repeated under his breath, seeming to be taking great efforts to remember all the names. That was a good sign... right?

"The one my missus was hangin' off?" The man continued.

"Jan," Dana answered.

Jayne nodded, taking another drink before asking, "'N the last two are twins, right? The boy 'n girl?"

"Yes," Dana said, "Meredith and Frances. He likes to be called Merry and she likes Frankie."

Once more nodding thoughtfully to himself, the man recited, "Dana, Murphy, Ace, Kelly, Sally, Hunter, Jan, Merry, Frankie... that all a' ya?"

"Far as we know," Dana answered plainly, just because he could never resist teasing.

Sure enough, Jayne groaned loudly and let his head drop to contact the tabletop with a loud _thud_. Dana chuckled, already vastly enjoying messing with his father.

His father.

The concept was still foreign and would probably always be.

"Can't believe this," Jayne muttered gruffly, not bothering to pick his head up, "I was always so ruttin' careful..."

Glaring, Dana snarled, "Sorry to be such an inconvenience."

Head flying up, Jayne fixed the young man with a stern, fatherly glare as he snapped, "That ain't what I meant, boy! I ain't that kinda man! I woulda done everythin' I could to do right by all a' ya'll if I knew you existed!"

"Whatever you say," Dana grumbled in reply.

"You're gorram right, whatever I say!" His father shouted angrily, "I'd a' been launchin' a one-man assault on that stinkin' prison moon they held ya on! Alliance scum got no business with my kin!"

"Because you care about us or because you hate the Alliance?" Dana challenged, not flinching under his father's hard stare. They were about the same body shape and size but, at that moment, Dana was fairly certainly he could take the man if he wanted to; the mercenary was drunk, after all, and having trouble merely staying in his chair.

Jayne narrowed his blue eyes, taking another long pull from his bottle before countering, "Why can't it be both?"

Both men were silent for a time, the air between then tense and electric.

"We weren't looking for you," Dana finally said, "But since we found you, I have to know what you want from us."

Anger waning, Jayne slowly replied, "Don't rightly know yet."

"Not good enough," Dana answered dangerously, "It's not like test-driving a hovercraft. You can't try us out for thirty days and then decide we're not worth the trouble. If you don't want us, just let me know now. I don't want my brothers and sisters getting hurt. It's better for them to think you're a _hun dahn_ from the beginning so they don't get attached."

"I don't want ya'll off on your own," The old man answered gruffly, "Not safe out there, 'specially for a buncha kids what don't know a thing 'bout 'verse."

"That shouldn't be a factor in your decision," Dana said, "We can take care of ourselves. We're hard workers and we got some pretty fine training from the Alliance. We'll get by. You're not answering my question. Do you want us?"

Rubbing at his forehead, Jayne stated, "Mal ain't gonna let me keep ya. Don't got the room and I couldn't pay your fares if we did."

"Again," Dana snapped, growing annoyed, "That wasn't my question. Do you want to have anything to do with us or do you want us to go away and pretend we never met you?

For the longest time, Jayne just stared at his son, face blank with thought. Finally he stated very plainly, "No, don't want the last one."

"Alright," Dana answered, nodding slightly, "I can work with that..." Suddenly remembering the reason he was there in the first place, the young man looked over his shoulder toward the head. "Wonder what's taking Murph so long..." He mused out loud, getting up from his seat and taking a few steps towards the doorway.

Before he could get there, little Murphy appeared. In the light, Dana could finally see that her sweet face was flushed and clammy, her bottle blue eyes shining and glazed. She was holding her stomach and, as soon as she saw her big brother, launched herself into his arms. Dana kneeled down just in time to catch her.

"Mouse," The little girl whimpered, burying her face against his broad shoulder, "I threw up."

"Shh. It's ok. Let me get a look at you, little one," The brunette soothed, gently stroking her shaking body as she slowly pulled back far enough for him to see her face again. The red on her cheeks was stark and hot.

Dana felt her forehead. "_Ai ya_," He gasped, clutching her tight against his chest as he swept her up off the floor and stood to his full height, "You're burning up! Why didn't you tell me before?"

Instead of answering, she just groaned feebly, trembling and clutching her brother's worn t-shirt in thin, shaking hands.

Holding her close, Dana turned and demanded, "This place got a sick bay?"

"Ya," Jayne answered, getting to his feet and wobbling precariously, "Come on. Doc's down there with Kaylee an' their brats in the passenger dorms."

His father hobbled off, leaving Dana to follow. He wasn't paying attention to anything aside from Murphy on the walk back through the hall, down into the cargo bay, and towards the rear of the ship. Jayne pointed him in and then walked further on, presumably to fetch the doctor.

One-handedly groping along the wall, Dana found the lights and flicked them on. Immediately, there was a pained groan from the shape spread out in the exam chair. The individual threw a clumsy arm up over his eyes. As he walked across the room to lay Murphy on a clear counter, Dana briefly registered that it was a brunette man.

He didn't care very much. By that time, Murphy was sweating profusely, her baggy second-hand clothes soaked and her cheeks flushed darker and her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she curled in on herself.

"I don't feel good," She rasped, voice weak and pained.

Offering a comforting grin as he stroked her tangled curls back from her face, Dana stated, "I know, little one. Don't fret. We're getting you a doctor right now."

"Some a' us are tryin' to sleep in here!" The man in the chair growled, still shielding his eyes from the light.

"_Qu ni ma de_!!" Dana snapped in reply, worried and annoyed, not realizing who he was talking to until the man moved his arm and revealed the freshly woven gash across his forehead.

Ace's remark about the captain bashing his head against a table popped into Dana's mind.

The captain.

Oh crap.

Dana never did have very much luck with first impressions.

"What'd you just say to me, boy?" The man snarled dangerously, movements jerky and uncoordinated as he attempted to shove himself out of the chair. He looked pissed.

"I'm sorry, Captain Reynolds," Dana answered fearfully, "I didn't know it was you."

"Don't matter," The captain barked, wobbling precariously as he finally got to his feet, "You make a habit a' speakin' to any person on my boat like that and we are gonna have a serious problem the likes a' which have been known to get smart-mouthed punks like you spaced, _dong ma_?"

"Yes, sir," Dana responded, aching back automatically going rigid as he took on a military stance, "Won't happen again, sir."

Seeming confused yet pleased by the respectful, soldier-like response, Captain Reynolds continued, "Well, ya, see that it doesn't..." His gaze shifted to Murphy and his expression immediately softened. "What's wrong with the lil' bit?" He questioned, genuinely concerned.

"She's sick, sir," Dana answered, eliciting an eyeroll.

"I can see _that_," The older man grumbled as he bent over the whimpering child. "Hey there," He stated quietly, feeling her temperature, "What seems to be the problem... uh... Sally?"

"I'm Murphy," The girl whimpered in a small, hoarse voice, close to tears as she clutched her midsection and struggled to focus her gaze on the blurry face hovering above her own, "My stomach hurts."

With a soothing smile, the captain said, "That ain't nothin'. I'm sure the doc'll fix you up in a jiff." He turned to Dana then, sounding condescending and annoyed as he inquired, "You did send for the doc, right?"

Dana nodded, "Yes, sir. Jayne went to get him."

On cue, the drunken mercenary entered, harshly shoving the bewildered and half-asleep, not to mention half-naked doctor along in front of himself. "Stop manhandling me, you ape!" He shouted crankily, dark, silvered hair standing on end in a rather comical contrast from the tidy part Dana last saw him wearing. He only had on a pair of well-worn green boxer shorts and did not look at all pleased to have been woken in the middle of the night-cycle.

"Evenin', Doc," The captain greeted, very obviously fighting a smirk as the smaller man noticed his lack of dress and a rosy blush spread across his pale face and chest, "Got you a patient."

The man's clinical gaze snapped right to Dana, giving him a once over as he questioned, "More side effects from the rifle blast? What symptoms are you experiencing?"

"Not me," Dana grumbled shortly, nodding down at Murphy, "Her. She has a fever and she threw up."

"Oh," The doctor stated, immediately turning to the little girl. "Can you tell me what hurts, _bao bei_?" He inquired with a kind smile.

Weakly, Murphy replied, "My stomach... and my throat a little... and my head's spinny..."

The doctor gave a thoughtful hum as he felt her temperature and checked her lymph nodes. After a brief moment or two, he requested, "Stick out your tongue for me, please."

She did so, revealing that it was bright blue in color.

"Aw, hell," Jayne grumbled as he leaned his towering form over the doctor's shoulder, "Blue Flu."

"Rotavirus K," The doctor corrected, looking still more comical standing there with his boxers and bedhead as he snapped on a pair of latex gloves and wound a stethoscope around his neck, "The blue coloration of the tongue is caused by cyanosis. Are you short of breath?"

"A little, I guess," Murphy whimpered, "But my stomach really hurts."

The doctor listened to her heartbeat for a few long moments and then stated, "I'll start you on antibiotics and an anti-emetic. You'll be fine in a day or two." He moved away, rifling through some cabinets before producing the equipment necessary for starting an I.V. line. Dana immediately jumped to block Murphy's view of it.

"Don't," He whispered harshly.

"She needs-"

"I know," Dana cut him off, his voice almost inaudible, "I know, just don't let her see it yet. She's afraid of needles. Let me warn her first so she'll stay calm."

At a permissive nod, Dana turned and took his sister's hand, smiling softly and petting her hair back from her flushed forehead. "You're going to be alright, little one," He soothed, "Dr. Tam is going to fix you up but he needs to give you an I.V. Do you remember what that is?"

"A shot?" Murphy whimpered, voice trembling with fear as she squirmed back against the wall in an attempt to get away, "Nooo! I don't want a shot!"

"It's ok," Dana said, "This is just medicine. I promise. You'll feel better."

Suddenly bursting into tears, Murphy sobbed, "No! No, please! Mouse, don't let them take me again!"

"Hey, listen, Murph," He told her, hugging the little girl fiercely against his chest as she cried, "This isn't like back at the compound. No one's going to hurt you. You're going to be fine because the only thing Dr. Tam is giving you is medicine to make you better. I'm going to be right here to protect you the whole time, ok? Will you trust me?"

She gave a loud sniffle, slowly calming her sobs before nodding feebly. Without picking her face up out of Dana's shoulder, she let the doctor take her arm. She only gave a tiny, whining yelp as the needle sunk in, trembling as her tears and snot soaked into her brother's soft t-shirt.

"See?" Dana said, kissing her temple after the saline bag was hung and the proper medications administered, "Nothing to it."

"I would've expected the Alliance to innoc against somethin' as common as Blue Flu," The captain contributed bluntly, rather unimpressed, "Nowadays it only takes hold on the world that can't afford the drugs."

Dana swallowed thickly. "Bastille's environment is strictly controlled," He said, rocking Murphy as her felt her relaxing more, relaxing and hopefully falling asleep, "Nothing gets on or off without clearance and that includes sicknesses. They can't have us immune to stuff they want to research. They... they do experiments sometimes, single out cadets to infect and test new drugs on. It's why Murphy's afraid of needles. Sally and Hunter are, too."

"If you're not vaccinated then you need to get away from her," Dr. Tam ordered sternly, "Rotavirus K is very contagious."

Dana shook his head, "I got my innocs last week. It's how you know you're about to get shipped off world." His eyes grew wide. "The others!" He gasped, jumping up to run for them.

Murphy's tight grip on his arm stopped him. "Don't leave me, Mouse!" She cried out, terrified and immediately startled out of the half-slumber into which she'd fallen, "You promised!"

Feeling guilty as all hell, the young man hung back, apologizing, "Sorry, Murph. I just forgot for a second." Heedless of the doctor's protests, he easily scooped the little girl up from the counter, cradling her against his chest and snatching the I.V. bag off its stand before tromping back towards the cargo bay.

The rest were asleeping, but Ace and Merry were flushed and sweating, Kelly curled up in a little ball against Sally's side, pain written all over his pale face. Sally, Jan, and Frankie were thrashing uncomfortably in their sleep, their breathing shallow. The only one who seemed to be fine was Hunter, still and peaceful as she slept at the very end of the row of bedrolls.

Dana couldn't believe it. Almost every single one of them was sick and... and it was his fault. He didn't think enough when they were planning the escape, didn't plan every angle. He wasn't a stupid boy; he knew there were some things that were out of his control, but failing to acquire the right vaccines seemed like an idiotic and incredibly reckless oversight that could have gotten them all killed.

He laid Murphy down in an empty bedroll and called for the doctor.

xxXxx

Mal hadn't come to bed last night and Inara refused to let herself be hurt or worried. It was just another one of his silly games to convince her to marry him and she wouldn't give in to such a childish gambit. She definitely did not care and had definitely not stayed up until well into the night-cycle waiting to hear her shuttle door slide open--she knew Mal far too well to expect him to knock.

And so, that morning, her sour mood was most definitely not due to waking up alone. She was pregnant! Her ankles were swollen, her bladder was the size of a bean, and her hormones were very far out of whack. Inara felt she did not need anymore justification for being angry with the man who got her into that mess in the first place.

As soon as she stepped onto the catwalk outside her shuttle, Inara heard shouting, loud orders and threats and swears laid so thick on top of one another that they were hardly coherent.

"PUT IT DOWN, SAL!!"

"NO!!! HE COMES NEAR ME WITH THAT NEEDLE AGAIN AND I'LL TAKE HIS RUTTING HEAD OFF!! _GOU-ZAI-ZI_!!!"

"SALLY, YOU'RE SICK!! IT'S JUST MEDICINE!!"

"GET A CLUE, MOUSE!! THAT'S WHAT THEY _ALWAYS_ SAY AND IT'S _ALWAYS_ A LIE!! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, _SAO BI_, OR I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET THAT GORRAM M.D. BEHIND YOUR NAME!!"

A little disturbed since she didn't recognize either of those most prominent voices, Inara crept closer to the railing and peered down into the cargo bay. A hulk of a teenage boy with messy black hair sticking to his clammy olive skin and falling in his glassy cerulean eyes was standing against the port side bulkhead. He had a crowbar gripped tightly in both massive, white-knuckled fists and was swinging it wildly in front of himself, keeping back Mal, Simon, Jayne, and... and a younger copy of Jayne?

What?

Before Inara could think very much farther into the situation, Jayne and his copy sprang forward in the same instant, frightening in just how lightening quick they both were. They caught the larger boy on a backswing, managing to pin his thick arms against the wall before knocking the crowbar away and wrestling him to the ground.

He screamed, screamed and fought and punched and kicked and swore and--oh, that's charming--spat in an attempt to get loose. He had delirious panic written all over his hard features and he surely was not going down easy.

Kid almost made it free, would have if Mal hadn't jumped into the melee just in time to tackle him back down. It took all three of the big men sitting on him to keep the boy pinned and, from the looks of things, he was still going to throw them off within seconds. Simon just barely managed sink a syringe full of smoothers into his straining right bicep before the giant violently hurled the bodies off of his own with a feral, enraged, utterly terrified roar.

He struggled to his feet, stumbling clumsily away, still trying to flee even as the drugs took hold. He was moaning and breathing in hard gasps, like a wounded bear, and it seemed like forever before he finally began to sway and ultimately toppled over.

The Jayne copy darted out to catch him. He was no small boy himself but the weight of the great bear falling against his chest still sent the young man barreling into the floor. He landed with a pained grunt, somehow managing to cradle the larger boy, making the bear's decent as non-jarring as possible even though it meant sacrificing any softness in his own.

"It's ok, Sally," He murmured quietly, laying a rough hand against the bear's flushed forehead as the last of his fight succumbed to the drugs, as his eyes struggled to stay open but closed anyways.

Silence fell over the bay.

Inara got the very distinct impression that she'd missed something terribly important.

xxXxx

Dana's back was aching. He surveyed the large bruise there in the mirror and, yet again, cursed the maker and firer of the sonic rifle both to Hades.

It had been a long day, what with all the hair he had to hold back.

Not to mention the angry, three-hundred-plus pound needle-phobe he had to restraint.

Twice.

As well as the looks of annoyance, pity, and intrigue he suffered from Captain Reynolds, Jayne, and Dr. Tam, respectively. All three gazes seemed to suggest that they most certainly would be having a long talk before very long.

Joy.

Still though, he guess that the day hadn't been all bad. He met the rest of the _Serenity_ crew and they seemed like a nice group. Kaylee, the mechanic and Dr. Tam's wife, was real sweet and helpful in caring for his siblings. She even offered to try to help him find Hunter when she disappeared rather shortly after she woke, still showing no symptoms of Blue Flu... which was troubling because, unless you were vaccinated against it, you caught. End of story. Vaccinations were only good for a maximum of three years. When and why she had been vaccinated was a mystery, and Dana shivered when he began thinking on that subject.

River stopped them from going after the girl--River, his stepmother's name was River--by insisting, "Rejected subject needs solitude. Trying its hardest to remember what isn't there. Does not comprehend. They made sure to wipe all fingerprints from the surfaces they touched."

It was an extremely creepy comment and made Dana really start to wonder how the tiny woman seemed to know so much about him and his siblings.

But he didn't want to think about that just then.

He had finally convinced Murphy that no one was going to get her and that having Ace by her side was a suitable substitute for his constant presence. He was finally able to go the bathroom and give himself a rather half-hearted bath in the small, stainless-steel basin. Dana bent over it, splashing water on his face and using his cupped hands to pour some over the back of his head. He let it run down through his cropped brown hair and closed his eyes and sighed in contentment.

A light knock on the bathroom door made him jump suddenly, made him hiss a curse or two beneath his breath as his back gave a stab of pain. "Just a minute, please," He called to whoever was on the other side, grabbing the clean, slightly too-small black t-shirt that had been provided by River off the counter, using it to towel off his head and neck before tugging it down over his broad chest and opening the door.

His gaze immediately went from eye-level to hip-level, falling on the pale, smiling face of the pilot. He had red-blonde hair and soft blue eyes and he was in a wheelchair.

"Hello, sir," Dana greeted pleasantly, arm twitching as he fought the urge to salute. His deeply ingrained tendency to do so in the presence of authority figures had already earned him a bit of laughter and a gentle reprimand from the funny little guy.

"Again with the _sir_," The pilot chuckled, maneuvering his chair to point in towards the kitchen and nodding for Dana to follow, "I told you, just call me Wash."

"Yes, Mr. Wash," Dana dutifully replied, falling into step beside the wheelchair.

With a laugh and a head shake, the man stated, "Better. I guess. We'll just have to work on that." He turned slightly and swept his gaze from the top of Dana's six foot four frame to the bottom, smirking as he asked, "So, I've been dying to know, why do they call you Mouse?"

Dana rolled his eyes.

"Because they're a bunch of brats."

Laughing harder as his bare, freckled arms flexed with each fluid push of the wheelchair, Wash responded, "Good enough reason as any, I suppose. Any-who, the captain is wanting a word with you. I imagine he's in the mood to be reassured your brother isn't as dangerous as he looked while he was swinging that crowbar at your heads."

"I warned Dr. Tam he was afraid of needles," Dana resolutely defended, "Sally's not dangerous. He was just scared."

"I get it," Wash agreed, "Simon can sometimes be a bit careless with the emotional side of treating folks. Guess that's why he's a surgeon and not a shrink."

They finally arrived in the kitchen. Dana took a moment to appreciate the pretty stenciled flowers painted on the cheery yellow walls before his attention came back to rest on Captain Reynolds, Zoe--who was the stoic, slightly scary first mate--Dr. Tam, and Jayne. They were sitting on the other side of the table, facing him and not looking very happy. Well, Captain Reynolds and Zoe didn't look very thrilled with him in particular; Dr. Tam had a large vomit stain on his shirt which he was eyeing scornfully; Jayne looked to be hungover and ticked with the 'verse in general.

"Take a seat, son," The captain ordered shortly, kicking out a chair and not leaving any room for an argument.

Dana did as he was asked, aching back rigid as he awaited orders from his superiors.

Briefly, he gave himself a mental scolding for still thinking like that.

"Quite a little ruckus we had today," The captain remarked, his casual tone not matching the look of scorn he had on his weathered face.

"Sorry, sir," Dana immediately answered, "My brother is very afraid of needles. I'll see that he's kept under control until he's ready to come off the I.V."

With a brief nod, the captain continued, "I'm sure you will, however, there's still the problem of him tryin' to crack our skulls open with that crowbar. Makes me a might twitchy, 'specially since we've got small children onboard."

Angrily clenching his jaw, Dana replied, "Sally wouldn't have reacted so violently in any other circumstance. As long as none of your children try to inject him with anything while he's asleep, I don't anticipate any threat to them." After a beat, during which he glared at the embarrassed doctor, he added, "Sir."

A long, rather tense pause followed. "Why's he so scared?" Jayne finally asked, seeming to truly care.

Dana sighed, scrubbing a broad hand down his face. "Like I said before," He stated, "They do experiments on cadets. When Sally was about... seven, I think, he got enrolled into a project that was researching pituitary function and growth hormone production. I don't know the exact details of what they were trying to do. I think Ace might, but, anyways, the jist of it is that they strapped him down and shoved a whole hell of a lot of needles into him and kept doing it nonstop for a couple weeks. He's been terrified ever since."

"_Chu-sheng_," Jayne spat under his breath, fists clenched and shaking on the tabletop. "And what about the other two?" He demanded gruffly, "You said Murphy and Hunter are afraid of needles, too, so what did those gorram purple-bellies do to 'em?"

"When she was five, Murphy got an experimental vaccine that was supposed to protect against several weapons-grade bio-agents," Dana announced, struggling to keep his voice even, "Then she got exposed to those bio-agents to test the vaccine's effectiveness. It protected her from all but one: Sarin V42."

The doctor and captain both drew in a sharp breath.

"She survived, obviously," Dana continued, "But went through a few days of hell first and came out with some mild nerve damage in her hands... they still shake a bit and her fingertips don't have very good sensation."

"And Hunter?" Jayne pressed, seeming to be getting madder by the second, probably at both the Alliance and himself in equal parts.

Swallowing thickly, Dana looked at his feet and stated, "We don't know. She disappeared for six months when she was twelve and came back with no memory of it, just walked over to us in the yard thinking it was the next day since we last saw her... she still hasn't been able to remember anything."

"Were there any physical indications of the type of experiment that was conducted?" Dr. Tam questioned clinically, also enraged by the Alliance's practices but trying harder to control it.

Dana nodded. "Ya," He said, tapping the center of his own forehead, "She had a needle mark right here."

The doctor's strangled shriek of "WHAT?" snapped Dana's gaze up from the floor just in time to watch the older man attempt to jump out of his chair and trip over his own feet in the process. He only missed bashing his face on the table by a narrow margin, instead catching his chin on an empty chair and slumping limply down to the threadbare rug.

Dana marveled at just how much use it was getting.

xxXxx

Kaylee held her breath when she saw River's body go rigid and tense, the dark-haired woman's attention pulling away from the game of dinosaurs spread out across the floor of Inara's shuttle as her eyes glazed over.

Just an instant later though, she was smiling and shaking her head, jumping gracefully to her feet as she laughed, "Boob." After dropping a kiss on Melody's head, she then skipped happily from the room.

Puzzled but not quite worried enough to follow, Kaylee turned back to the conversation she was having with Inara. "I think they're sweet kids," She stated, lounging lazily on the former-Companion's soft silk sheet, "Real polite-like. Kept callin' me _Ma'am_."

"Yes," Inara agreed dryly, not bothering to look up from the thick book of baby names propped open on her bulging stomach, "I'm sure they're absolutely delightful when they're not trying to kill people with crowbars."

Kaylee frowned. "That weren't his fault," She defended, "His brother warned Simon that the poor boy was scared a' needles and Simon went and tried stickin' him in his sleep. If that man weren't my husband, I'd almost say he had a good clock the noggin' comin'."

Inara hummed noncommittally and turned a page, asking aloud, "What do you think of Nazih Karam for a boy and Sa'dia Zongying for a girl?"

"Those are real pretty, 'Nara, you should definitely add 'em to the list," The mechanic beamed, fondly glancing over at the other children. Lukas and Ben were play fighting with the toy swords their Uncle Jayne made them. The game was called "Oh no! Cap'n got stabbed again!" She chuckled; they may not have been very creative with the titles but at least they were consistent.

Melody and Gabe were alternately cheering them on, taking bets--she was so going to have to have a talk with Jayne about what he was teaching his daughter--and playing with the vast dinosaur collection. Melody loved how Gabe and his pop both did the voices, and was giggling brightly as her adopted cousin had a t-rex pretend to chomp on her cute little toes.

Noah was... "NOAH DERRIAL TAM!! GET THAT OUTTA YOUR NOSE!!"

The russet-haired six-year-old pouted and grudgingly removed one of Melody's pencils from his right nostril. His blue eyes grew wide when he looked down and found that the eraser was missing. "Oops," He sheepishly, nasally declared, paying no mind as his brothers began to laugh.

Kaylee sighed. "What am I gonna do with you?" She scolded, crossing the shuttle and scooping him up off the floor, carrying him out towards the infirmary for yet another foreign body removal.

Fourth one that month.

A new personal best for the boy.

"Sorry, Mama," He responded, frowning as he cuddled into the young woman's embrace, "I had a' itch."

"You gotta quit puttin' stuff up your nose, baby," Kaylee chuckled, kissing his pudgy cheeks, "One a' these days, you're gonna get somethin' stuck in there that your daddy can't pull out."

"Nuh uh," Noah challenged wisely, shaking his melon of a head, "He told me it's his spe-shitty."

Kaylee smiled.

"_Specialty_, baby."

By the time the woman entered the kitchen, Simon was already up from the floor, having been hauled to the table by his snickering sister shortly after her conveniently-timed entrance. He was seated at the table, his eyes closed against pain and nausea as he held a cold pack against his jaw. Kaylee was at his side in an instant, showing an impressive amount of dexterity as she simultaneously fussed over her husband and held her son against her hip. "Simon, what happened?" She demanded sweetly.

"Nothing," The doctor insisted, "Nothing. I'm fine. I just tripped. I'm fine." He struggled with the ministrations of his wife and sister, turning back to the Jayne copy who was standing at the other side of the room, "Please, tell me more about your sister. Does she display any extraordinary physical or mental capabilities?"

"Uh..." The teen--Dana, Kaylee remembered--drawled uncomfortably, "I don't know. She's always been really smart..."

"Simon," Kaylee scolded, "Why don't you wait 'til later to drill the poor boy. Right now, we got a serious eraser-lost-up-your-son's-nose situation."

Instantly, the doctor's attention snapped to the redhead who was sheepishly hiding his face against his mother's shoulder. "Again, buddy?" Simon chuckled, throwing the cold pack down onto the kitchen table and holding out his arms for the Noah-transfer. When the boy was seated comfortably in his father's lap, the man whipped out a small penlight and took a gander up the offending nostril.

"You wedged it in pretty well," He complimented, earning a grin from his son, "We're going to have to go down to my lap and get a pair of small forceps to get that out."

Clearing his throat loudly, Dana took a step closer and offered, "Sir, I think I can help."

After a brief beat, Simon gave a permissive nod, stating, "Please."

Crouching down beside Noah, Dana smiled and wiggled his index finger at the boy, instructing, "Hey, soldier. Give me one."

Noah slowly complied, peering at the new face with interest, so much so that he didn't put up any kind of resistance when Dana grabbed his pudgy fist and steered it back around towards his freckled face... not that he would have anyways.

Dana deftly wedge the finger up the opposite nostril that the eraser was in, ignoring the skeptical glances he got from all around as he instructed, "Now blow out real hard."

The six-year-old did so, immediately rocketing the tiny pink eraser across the room and straight into the captain's forehead. The offending projectile hit Mal right between the eyes, leaving a little glob of snot before bouncing harmlessly to the floor.

Mal closed his eyes, tiredly sighing, "Of course."

Though she was trying real hard not to, Kaylee let out a muffled giggle and quickly clapped her hands over her mouth to smother down the rest that were threatening to escape.

Wiping his brow, Mal glanced over at Dana, who was looking like he was three seconds from running for his very life, and complimented, "Real fine work, son. Truly extraordinary. I think I'll go ask 'Nara to marry me again, just to make sure my dignity has no chance at all a' survivin' the day." The good captain then stomped off out of the room.

At his mother's prompting, Noah finally removed his finger from his nose and gave a bright sniffle.

"Don't listen to him," Kaylee soothed, rubbing a hand down Dana's tense back, "The Cap'n's always cranky. It was smart that you thought to do that. Thanks."

Blushing lightly, Dana replied, "You're welcome, Ma'am."

Kaylee resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the _Ma'am_, continuing happily, "So, did it just come to you in a flash a' brilliance or do you have some experience gettin' stuff outta noses?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I have plenty of experience," The young man stated quietly, a little too seriously considering the subject, "I was good at dealing with the younger cadets so I got put in charge of a lot of their classes. Firearms training was just one long exercise in getting bullets out of noses."

Kaylee beamed, "Shiny! Think you'd mind doin' a little babysittin'?"

xxXxx

By dinnertime, Jan was feeling much better. The fifteen-year-old definitely wasn't up for the meal the ship's cheery mechanic offered him, but he was well enough for Dr. Tam, who was sporting a rather bruised jaw, to let him come off the I.V. and leave the sick bay.

Glad to be away from the cramped room that, thanks entirely to him and his siblings, smelled heavily of vomit, Jan wandered through the ship, his eyes peeled for Hunter.

He hadn't seen her all day and was pretty sure she was hiding.

He was also pretty sure he knew why.

Sure enough, she was in the cargo bay, under a set of rickety stairs, as close to Sally's unconscious body--it would be unwise to let the behemoth wake up in anything even remotely resembling the research labs on Bastille--as she could get without being out in the open.

"I'm hurt, Hunt," He greeted playfully, plopping down beside her in the shadows and rubbing his still slightly queasy stomach, "You didn't visit. I thought for sure you'd at least swing by to laugh at me while I was heaving my guts out."

Not bothering to look at her brother, her face hidden by a curtain of ginger hair, Hunter's shoulders came up in an indifferent shrug. Jan's comment elicited no other reaction and he could feel the hairs standing up on the back of his neck.

It was time to be serious, he supposed.

Coughing awkwardly, he swung one gangly arm around Hunter. Jan pulled her against his side and asked quietly, "Did you remember something?"

She shook her head.

"Then you shouldn't worry," He soothed, his gaze following Hunter's, both of them hypnotized by the rhythmic rise and fall of Sally's massive chest. "It's over with," Jan went on knowingly, "We're not going back and nothing like it is ever going to happen again."

"But I should remember!" Hunter snapped in reply, voice shaking with pent up rage and fear, "What they did... it wasn't some standard drug trial. I know that much. And this just proves they took me somewhere off world. Had to innoc me to do that. They must've had me off for most of the six months. Any shorter and they wouldn't have bothered because threats of exposure would've been low. But... six months, Jan! It's six months of my life and I should remember it! I should remember what they did to me and I just... I-I can't."

"Shh," Jan responded, enraged just how unfair the whole thing was.

His sister was just fourteen.

He rested his head against hers, tightening his grip when he felt a tremor run down her spine and stating, "The important thing is that they didn't keep you. You came back and you're safe with us now and that's all that counts."

Sniffling, bravely biting back the unshed tears shining in her cornflower eyes, Hunter responded with a weak smile. "Ya," She said, "I guess you're right... probably failed whatever test they were giving me anyways."

Jan smiled, "Let's hope so."

xxXxx

Finally free from the infirmary, Ace wandered shakily into the cargo bay with the intention of promptly passing out in her bedroll. She still wasn't a hundred percent, but as long as she could be somewhere else, she would be. She wasn't scared like Murphy, who had insisted on tagging along because the girl didn't want to be left alone, or Sally, or Hunter, however, Ace was still no great fan of medical facilities. It was the smell, she reasoned, that antiseptic stink that clung to a person's clothes and hair. That smell made her all kinds of woozy.

When she entered the cargo bay, leading drowsy little Murphy by the hand, Ace had to stop in her tracks, blinking curiously at the spectacle before her eyes. She shook her head, took her own temperature, leaned a bit to the side, but the sight stayed exactly the same.

Her rugged, burly big brother Dana was facedown on the bay floor and hogtied with a set of hot pink jump-ropes.

Three little boys were sitting on his back, bickering over a set of markers and whose turn it was to draw the lip ferret.

She could tell Dana noticed her because he began struggling just a bit more violently, blue eyes wide and wild as he tried to call for help from behind the large, rather filthy-looking sock that was shoved into his mouth.

Ace laughed so hard she had to lie down.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

hun dahn - son of a bitch

ai ya - damn

qu ni ma de - fuck off (lit. go to your mom)

dong ma - understand

bao bei - sweetheart

gou-zai-zi - son of a dog

sao bi - bitch (lit. lewd cunt)

chu-sheng - animals

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Trypanophobia - the extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. Associative Trypanophobia stems from a traumatic event surrounding interaction with needles. Resistive also includes a fear of being restrained. Both can illicit combativeness, high heart rate and blood pressure, violent resistance, avoidance, and flight in sufferers when exposed to needles.

Sarin - a weaponized nerve agent that can cause death, bleeding from the eyes and mouth, coma, convulsions, difficulty breathing, flu-like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, paralysis, seizures, uncontrollably trembling, and both temporary and permanent vision problems.

Reviews, as always, are highly encouraged and greatly appreciated ;D


	5. Part 5: Wanted

Part 5 - Wanted

"Malcolm Jr.?"

"No."

"Mallory?"

"No."

"Malik?"

"No."

"Malena?"

"No."

"Malone?"

"No."

"Malinda?"

"No, and if you suggest one more name starting with 'Mal,' I'm not going to let you help at all."

"What's wrong with Mal?"

"It has some negative connotations."

"You're beautiful when you're pissed. Marry me?"

"No."

"Strike seventy-nine. Is there some set limit I gotta reach 'fore you say yes or are you just toyin' with me, woman?"

"Mal, be serious."

"I am bein' serious!"

"..."

"Fine, just quit with the glarin'... What about Serenity?"

"We are not naming our child after your ship!"

"Why not?"

"_Because I rutting said so_!!"

Standing at the slightly ajar door of the shuttle and listening to this conversation unfold, Dana Mao was a bit reluctant to interrupt. Captain Reynolds and Miss Serra were each intimidating all on their own--a decorated war hero and certified former-Companion--but together and already embroiled in a heated tiff, they were downright terrifying.

Still, he had to ask, so the young man bravely knocked and waited.

The captain came to the door fairly quickly. He was shirtless and sighed as he asked, "Ya? What is it this time?"

"Well, sir," Dana stated resolutely, trying not to stare at the scars all over the man's chest, "I was just wondering if I could get your permission for my brothers and sisters and I to do some training in your cargo bay. Dr. Tam released all of them and they're feeling much better. I know they'll get bored soon if they don't have anything to occupy all this free time, so I just thought-"

"Son," Mal cut him off, trying very hard not to lose his patience with the teenager, "You don't gotta ask permission just to screw around in the bay." The captain ticked off on his fingers, "I told you the only things that are off-limits are the cargo itself, crews' personal quarters, unless you been asked, and vital equipment in the engine room or bridge. Other than that, just stay healthy and sane 'til we figure out what we're doin' with ya."

Nodding, blushing a bit, Dana hung his head and answered, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I won't bother you again."

"Now, just wait a minute," The captain protested, that I-hate-myself-for-once-again-kicking-the-metaphorical-puppy look coming across his face, "I didn't mean it like that. We've already been over this stuff. Several times. We decided you didn't have to come runnin' to ask my say 'bout every little thing. What's the problem?"

Though he stood at least a half foot taller than the captain, Dana suddenly felt very small. "Sorry, sir," The brunette behemoth answered quietly, "We had to ask for permission for everything on Bastille and failure to do so resulted in strict punishment. I guess it's just a hard habit to break and... well, you are the captain so I just figured I should be asking you." He inwardly acknowledged that he may have also been making up for inadvertently cursing him out at their first meeting.

But he didn't need to mention that horrifying moment. In fact, he would prefer it if everyone involved would just pretend like it never happened.

Mal gave an understanding nod, expression visibly softening, "Well, not that I'm complainin' about all this respect I been gettin', but you need to tone it down 'fore we get to Cinnabar. Sir-in' me four or more times in one conversation is a dead giveaway you been residin' someplace military."

Turning noticeably grim, Dana answered, "Yes, sir. I'll try. Thank you."

"Alright then," Mal responded.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments before the captain sighed and stated, "Dismissed."

xxXxx

"Ace," Hunter called, trying her hardest to hide in Sally's large shadow as she sat down on the cargo bay floor.

The girl's big sister glanced away from her observation of the tea party going on between Merry, Frankie, Kelly, and the newest sibling, Melody. "Ya?" The blonde inquired casually, the expression on her pretty face barely changing as she reached out to viciously slap Sally's hand away from the small scab on the inside of his elbow. He'd been scratching at it nonstop.

Seated on top of a crate of fireworks, the black-haired giant glared menacingly. He was not in a very good mood and hadn't been since he woke from the drugged stupor he'd been forced into.

"If you pick it, it'll get infected," Ace scolded, settling back into her own seat on top of her rumpled bedroll, "That'll mean more shots. And I'm not nice like Mouse. I'll make sure to hurt you when I tackle your sorry butt to the floor."

"Wouldn't have the gorram thing in the first place if it hadn't been for Mouse and that _ta made niao_ doctor," Sally grumbled crossly, obviously intent on hanging onto his grudge as he glowered across the cargo bay at the physician in question, "Should've left me the hell alone."

Rolling her eyes, Ace snapped, "Yes, because a slow, painful death drowning on your own bodily fluids is _so_ much more appealing than a few needle pricks you weren't even awake for."

After one more heated glare at his little sister, Sally went back to sulking in silence, warily watching Ace out of the corner of his eyes as she did the same to him. He'd never really been very accepting of her interest in medicine and it was situations like that one that made him almost fearful of her. She was going to turn into one of the needle-wielding maniacs they all knew he still had nightmares about. No amount of reasoning managed to convince him otherwise so they'd given up trying awhile ago.

"Sorry, Hunt," Ace apologized with a weak smile, slinging an arm around the petite redhead's shoulders, "Our big baby of a big brother needs so much looking after. What did you want?"

"That creepy doctor is staring at me again," Hunter replied, glaring very indiscreetly at the man near the steps. He was trying half-heartedly to chase his three demon children, keeping them occupied so they wouldn't crash the tea party again, but mostly he was just watching Hunter. Hunter did not like it. She shared Sally's extreme dislike of doctors and that one in particular was getting on her nerves.

"He just wants to help figure out what happened to you," Ace soothed with a smile, "I guess his sister was experimented on, too, and he thinks it might be the same project."

"I get _that_," Hunter grumbled, fidgeting with the ends of her red hair, "But he's always following me, and staring at me, and asking me weird stuff... he wanted to know if I remembered men with blue hands and if I've ever heard other people's thoughts! What the rutting hell kinds of questions are those?"

"You want me to take care of him?" Sally offered brightly, seeming quite enthused by the possibility of being able to enact violence on a member of the medical community, especially one who'd so recently poked him full of holes.

Ace shot her brother a very disapproving glare.

"Where'd Murph get off to?" Jan interrupted lazily, shirtless and still lounging in his bedroll, greatly enjoying the fact that he could remain so all day if he wanted to--and he probably would; the military lifestyle had never really agreed with him and he was fairly high off his newfound freedom.

"Gabe is _showing her his dinosaurs_," Ace snickered.

Hunter couldn't help but join in. The son of the pilot and first mate was developing quite the little crush on their little sister. His light-coffee complexion flushed to scarlet every time he laid eyes on her and he invariably turned to a stuttering mess whenever he tried to speak around or to her. "Smooth," Hunter laughed, "Us girls do love prehistoric Earth-That-Was reptiles. How'd the poor kid finally manage to string a sentence together?"

"He didn't," Ace answered importantly, "I got Murph to go over and ask to see his dinosaurs. She's been eyeing the things for days. I think he took her up onto the bridge."

Frowning darkly, Sally interrupted, "Wait, she went off _alone_ with him?"

"Sure," Ace said, casually smoothing out her dark blonde hair, "Why not?"

Without another word, the teen got to his massive feet and stomped off in search of his baby sister.

Losing her human shield, Hunter squirmed as she once again became exposed to Dr. Tam's inquisitive stare. He just did not quit.

"Ugh," Merry grunted as he came limping over and pointedly flopped down right on top of Jan. "Too much imaginary tea," The sixteen-year-old moaned, paying no mind as the fifteen-year-old beneath him squirmed and struggled, "I think I'm going to be sick again."

"Then get the gorram hell off me!" Jan protested angrily.

"How did you get sick off imaginary tea?" Ace laughed, giving his tousled brown hair an affectionate ruffle.

With a bright, goofy smirk, Merry quipped, "Spoiled imaginary milk. I think little Mel needs to clean out her imaginary refrigeration unit more often."

"Weirdo," Hunter giggled, jabbing him in the head with one bare toe.

The boy answered with an immediate, wolfish grin, springing to his feet and pouncing on Hunter. She squealed as her brother rolled her across the floor, tickling her mercilessly. The bay filled to bursting with the pair's playful shrieks.

"Keep it down, would you?" Jan yawned, rolling over and squishing a pillow down over his chaotic, sandy brown hair, "Some of us are trying to catch up on the last ten years' worth of lie-ins."

"Lazy ass," Ace remarked. She would have gotten her little brother up, but at that moment Sally came stomping back into the cargo bay. He was holding a furious Murphy under one massive arm and a frightened Gabe under the other.

"PUT ME DOWN, SALLY! PUT US BOTH DOWN RIGHT DOWN! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" Murphy shouted, kicking and punching like the little hellcat they all knew she was beneath that sweet exterior.

"There," Sally answered, finally setting her and her friend down on the floor. He produced a handful of dinosaurs from out of his pockets, tossing them down between the two before taking a seat on a nearby crate. "Now everyone's happy," The giant stated, folding his arms across his massive chest and settling in to his role as self-appointed chaperone.

"No," Murphy spat, glaring at her big brother, "Just _you_!!"

Sally smiled, teasing, "Well, that's what I meant."

Scowling, the girl pointedly turned her back on him and resumed playing with her new friend, who was having much more trouble forgetting Sally's presence. He kept his eye on the giant over his shoulder, squirming uncomfortably as his light-coffee face grew hot.

"You're insane," Ace remarked to Sally, "Murph's nine and Gabe's eight. What could you possibly be worried about them doing?"

Face remaining dead serious, Sally gruffly replied, "Everything."

"Caveman," Hunter accused, still playfully wrestling with Merry across the floor, "You'd better not trying pulling any of that on me and the other girls when we get boys to pay attention to us!"

The seventeen-year-old's silence and futile attempt at looking innocent spoke volumes.

"You've been doing it to us all along!!" Hunter gaped furiously, abandoning goofing around with one brother in favor of staring at another in horror. "No wonder boys wouldn't talk to me!!" The young teen fumed, "It's not because_ I'm_ scary!! It's because _you _are!!"

She always was a smart girl.

Sally remained silent.

Jan and Merry leapt up to tackle Hunter to the floor just in time to keep her from maiming their older brother.

In the midst of all the swearing and shouting and general chaos, River slipped into the bay unnoticed by all. Her presence was only revealed when she began rearranging the large crates of fireworks, pushing and pulling them one at a time from their disordered piles in the middle to stack them neatly against the walls.

Once Hunter was finally calm, Jan saw what his stepmother was doing and, not bothering to put on a shirt or pants, strode across the bay to offer her a hand. "Miss River?" He called very respectfully, having grown fond of the kind woman over the past few days. She was very sweet to him, after all, and reminded him of his real mother, of whom he remembered very little but just enough to miss her like crazy. "Miss River?" He said again, finally getting her attention, as well as a bright, loopy smile for his troubles, "Can I help you with that?"

Behind him, he could hear Hunter making loud smooching noises, clearly calling him an ass-kisser without actually saying the words.

"The Jayneling is so wonderful!" River beamed, throwing her little arms around him for a great big hug, "So caring and kind! She would be thankful for assistance in removing pyrotechnic merchandise from training area."

"Um," Jan replied, frowning slightly because he didn't understand a couple of words, finally guessing, "You want the fireworks out of the way?"

River's tiny skull nodded like a bobble-head doll's, her dark hair flying every which way.

"Oh," Jan stated, brightening up a bit, "Sure. That's no problem." He turned to glance over his shoulder, shouting at his assorted siblings, "Hey, guys, crates against the wall."

"Ok," Hunter and Ace chirped as everyone, even Murphy, quickly leapt up to help.

The hundred or so crates, enough to have been previously crowding the center of the bay, were arranged in neat stacks against the bulkheads in just under ten minutes.

"Wow," The children heard from the catwalk as they were wiping away the hints of sweat from their foreheads. They all glanced up to find the pilot and first mate looking down at them and clearly impressed. "That was amazing!" Wash declared, leaning his thick freckled arms against the metal railing, "It's like having an army of Jaynes, except they're respectful, well-behaved, intelligent, house-broken, de-loused-"

"Husband," The first mate cut in quietly, not bothering to even glare at him because the absolutely unaffected tone of her voice was scary all by itself.

The pilot grinned up at her from his seat in the wheelchair, looping an arm around the statuesque woman's strong thighs as he apologized, "Sorry, wifey. I believe the point of my observation was to highlight just how useful, as well as lovable our little stowaways have proven to be. Can we keep 'em? Pretty please?"

Zoe's face remained stoic but her voice was soft and warmed as she leaned into the little man's embrace, a fond smile fighting to the surface as she carded her slim fingers through his red-blonde hair. "Doubt it," She reported quietly, "Jayne's been tryin' to reach his family all day. Think he aims to talk Mal into swingin' by Galena on the way back from Cinnabar so he can stash 'em with kin."

Jan and Hunter frowned, exchanging sideways glances.

With a rather immature pout, the pilot whined, "But I like 'em."

"You liked that gecko, too," Zoe reminded, "Mal didn't let you keep him either."

Wash looked like he might cry. "Low blow," He sniffled dramatically, turning his wheelchair around and heading for the stairs. He hooked his chair into the spiffy little machine Kaylee rigged for him, attaching the wheels to a conveyor belt that gave him a rather fun ride down into the cargo bay.

Dana came into view while Wash was on his downward journey, catching up to the pilot and getting to the bottom of the steps just second before him. The teen found the device absolutely fascinating; he had never heard of or even fathomed any such machines to aid the handicapped. On Bastille, cadets who were injured as severely as Wash was just... disappeared. They were of no use if they couldn't eventually serve out their terms of service and the good Alliance didn't want to waste the funds to feed and clothe them.

"Mouse," Ace called, finally get his attention away and smirking brightly, "You're staring."

His whole face turned red, his gaze dropping to his feet as he mumbled, "Sorry, Mr. Wash."

He didn't even see Wash roll his eyes, but definitely heard, "No worries. I like the attention. I've been accused many a time of being a spotlight hog."

"Where've you been?" Sally challenged gruffly, not taking his eyes off of Murphy and her "sinister" new friend Gabe as they relaxed into their game of dinosaurs. Murphy's t-rex was kicking Gabe's stegosaurus' spiny-plated behind.

A little disturbed by his little brother's behavior, Dana glanced up and ran his fingers through his short brown hair, reporting, "I was asking the captain for permission to do some P.T. in the bay."

Jan and Hunter groaned, the girl shouting, "Mouse!"

"Just because we're off Bastille doesn't mean we should get out of shape," Dana resolutely defended, looking both surprised and upset that no one shared his opinion, "Besides, I know you guys. You're going to get bored soon and start defacing things and swapping people's underwear."

Jan and Hunter put their heads together and giggled maniacally.

Dana glared. "Exactly," He stated, glancing about, pleased to discover that someone had already done the work of clearing plenty of floor space in the bay, "So stretch and be ready for some work in five."

xxXxx

The weather was beautiful on Galena.

Much too beautiful to be stuck in school and missing it, according to Winchester Mei Sheridan, which was why she and her latest boy-toy had chosen not to attend school that afternoon.

Well, Buddy Harland had to be talked into it. _Swai_ as the boy was, he had not been blessed with an overabundance of courage and was in constant fear of catching the business end of his daddy's belt against his perfectly formed backside.

Winchester took a moment to stare at it and sigh happily.

And completely forget her previous train of thought.

What was it again?

Oh, right.

The weather.

The weather was beautiful on Galena, sunny blue skies with just the sweetest hint of a breeze, and it would be a crime against humanity to be indoors missing it. Who needs arithmetic anyways?

"Winnie, don't you think we should get back to school?" Buddy asked nervously, taking a moment to realize that his companion had fallen a few steps behind. He stopped, turning around in the packed red dirt street and frowning adorably as he waited for the pretty brunette to catch up. "They're gonna notice we're gone," The boy whined, "Miz Song'll tell my pa."

"Aw, quit worryin', Buddy," Winchester soothed, sending him a sweet smile as she slipped her hand into his, "We stayed through attendance and that's all that counts. She ain't gonna notice us we ain't there, 'specially not with Tristan and Zion distractin' her."

The barest hint of a smirk fought its way into the corners of his lips; Winchester found herself quite a bit transfixed. At just fourteen, she was what her mama like to call "boy crazy."

"You asked your cousins to distract the teacher just so we could skip out?" Buddy questioned, vaguely smug as he unconsciously whipped messy gold fringe off his tanned forehead and away from his pretty blue eyes, as he smiled and squeezed his companion's thin hand.

Greatly enjoying herself, Winchester happily answered, "Well, no, but it's not like I have to. They're always up to somethin', whether or not they mean to be."

Buddy laughed, agreeing, "That is true. I figure the only reason they ain't been booted outta school yet is 'cuz they get away with most a' the stuff they do."

Winchester giggled and the pair of teens returned to their leisurely walk through the sleepy little town.

They didn't get too far before a booming voice yelled after them. "Winnie!!" It said, "Hold up a minute!!"

Frowning, Winchester dropped Buddy's hand and turned to see who was calling her name. She saw a stocky young man jogging towards her and smiled; his name was Shen Hennessy. He worked days in his daddy's general store and he was her big sisters boyfriend. "Heya, Shen!" Winchester greeted pleasantly, smiling up at the tall, handsome teenager, "What's goin' on?"

"Got a wave from your Uncle Jayne down at the store!" He panted urgently, shoving black hair off his sweaty forehead and grabbing Winchester by the wrist, "I can't reach any a' your family and he says it's real important and his ship's 'bout to move outta range behind a moon! Come on quick and talk to him!"

Barely resisting the urge to squeal with happiness at the thought of talking to Uncle Jayne, the girl looked over her shoulder to say goodbye to Buddy... only to discover that he was already long gone, probably run off as soon as she turned her back.

"Chicken shit _hun dan_," She muttered beneath her breath.

Why did the pretty ones always turn out to be such losers?

The run to the store flew by in an instant and the young brunette suddenly found herself staring down into a slightly staticy cortex screen--the only one for three counties--that depicted her uncle's rugged face.

He hadn't been home in a little over ten years, not since before he joined up with the ship he was still working on. She was only three at the time and didn't remember much of his last visit. However, Winchester still had the doll he brought her. It had a pretty painted porcelain face and she had named it Dolly. The girl mostly knew her Uncle Jayne by stories her gramma, and mama, and auntie, and uncles, and older cousins told about him, as well as the photos he periodically sent home. They got photos a lot more often since he went and got married awhile back. Winchester thought his wife was extremely beautiful and her little cousin Melody was an absolute sweetheart.

"Uncle Jayne!" She cried out happily, waving wildly in to the screen, "Hi! How's everything goin' on your spaceship? Did you get any cool jobs lately? Go to any exotic, fancy worlds? How are Melody and Auntie River? You just gotta send more pictures soon! We ain't gotten any from ya in months!"

The big man gave a sheepish smile, his voice crackling a bit and the video feed lagging a few seconds behind as he stated, "Hey, Winnie. It's nice to see ya. You sure got big and purty. We're all fine here... um, I really need to talk to your gramma and only got 'bout... two minutes 'fore we're outta range for the next few days. Could you run get her?"

Making a face, Winchester answered, "I'm at the general store. Home is miles away. I can't get there and back with Gramma in two minutes... just tell me whatever it is and I'll pass the message on."

He fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. The feed was already starting to get patchy but Winchester could clearly see his face flush to a bright shade of red. "Um... it ain't somethin' I should be tellin' to little girls," He mumbled in embarrassment. After a brief moment of thought, the big man perked up a bit and stated, "Ok, I got it. Just go tell your mama that, uh, that thing she warned me was gonna happen... it did. She'll know what it means."

The cortex screen blinked on and off. He was moving out of range. "Tell your gramma I'll wave her in a few days and explain what's goin' on," Uncle Jayne said, voice cutting out on every third syllable, "If everything goes like it's sposta, I'll be on world in a couple weeks to see ya'll."

Winchester really did squeal that time, her shrill voice making Shen, his younger brother Jian, and the few customers in the dim general store all jump in surprise.

But the cortex finally went dead.

Shen walked up behind her, taking off his dingy apron and smiling broadly. "Good news?" He asked, ruffling the girl's hair.

"Uncle Jayne said he might be comin' for a visit!!" Winchester announced, bouncing up and down on the rickety stool on which she was sitting.

"Shiny," Shen stated, "How you gonna pass on the message without gettin' in trouble for ditchin' school?"

Shrugging, Winchester answered, "I dunno. I think everybody'll be so excited that they'll forget all about it."

"If you say so," The handsome teen laughed, "Jian said he'd cover for awhile, so can I walk ya home?"

Winchester giggled, hopping up to her feet and skipping towards the door as she teased sing-songily, "You just wanna see Retta."

"'Course," Shen agreed heartily, easily catching up and slinging a thick arm around the fourteen-year-old's slim shoulders, tugging her into a playful headlock, "You Sheridan girls are my one weakness."

The petite brunette giggled again, fighting her way out of the restraint and breaking into a run. Uncle Jayne was coming home and she couldn't wait to tell everyone!

xxXxx

The cortex cut to static and then blackness and Jayne growled several of his favorite Mandarin swears, smacking the gorram machine a few times to avenge himself against it. Hitting inanimate objects was a pretty safe way of working out frustration and Jayne had plenty of that to go around. He was just hoping this plan of his would work, that he could convince his mama to look after his nine children, that he could convince Mal to take the detour to Galena in order to drop them off, that the kids wouldn't mutiny once they found out he planned on ditching them.

Because it wasn't even like that. He would keep them all around if he could. Sure, it was new and shocking that they were actually his, but they were really good kids and he felt downright awful he hadn't been there for them, and about what their lives had been like in that gorram Alliance camp. Thing was, there wasn't no room on _Serenity_ for that many people. Besides, he couldn't pay for their fares even if there was and he knew there was no way for the crew to support them on their meager jobs.

Sighing heavily, the big man got to work picking up the dinosaurs he'd knocked down with his brief cortex abuse, arranging them neatly before returning the settings on the screen to what they'd been before he locked himself on bridge hours ago to push that wave through.

A new bulletin was waiting. Now, normally Jayne wouldn't go messing about with something like that; he'd make sure to let Wash know, but he wouldn't open it himself because it wasn't his job. However, the bold, blinking red subject-line caught his attention:

FEDERAL WARRANT ISSUED FOR DANGEROUS YOUTH GANG - $$$REWARD$$$.

Jayne opened the bulletin and swore at what popped up onto the screen, punching the console hard and knocking all the dinosaurs to the floor once again.

xxXxx

Mal was amazed at what he was seeing.

He shouldn't have been, really, not after all those years of having River aboard and watching the bitty woman fight the way she did, the way she shouldn't have been able to. Still, she'd already been sixteen when she arrived on _Serenity_.

Seeing Jayne's nine-year-old daughter, sweet little Murphy with the big blue eyes and angelic blonde curls run up a wall, flip herself a full turn, and then come down with her arms locked around Dana's thick neck was just downright disturbing. She should not have been able to do that, and she certainly shouldn't have looked so utterly vicious while she was doing it.

For his part, the young man to which she was clinging looked quite proud of his baby sister and he continued to give her pointers, to correct her form even as his face began to turn a bit blue from lack of oxygen.

Even more troubling was Kelly, the gorram cheerful one, and how he managed to launch himself up high enough, with nothing but the power in his own spindly little legs, to kick Sally square in the nose. The behemoth caught him by the other ankle when Kelly tried for a second one--using the teen's shoulder to push off from--and he hurled the scrawny blonde clean across the cargo bay and into the bulkhead with a dull, resonant _bong_.

Mal winced; he had some recent experience with that sound and the pain that inevitably came from it. His hand went up reflexively to feel the tender knot on his own skull and he opened his mouth to scold Sally for playing too rough with his little brother.

But, surprisingly, Kelly just popped right back up, the twelve-year-old still sporting that big dopey smile of his as he shook off the impact and went right back to attacking Sally, who was easily three to four times his size and not holding his strength back as much as he should have been... Kelly didn't seem to mind too much...

The twins were a spectacle, the both of them working against Ace in perfect harmony, kicking, punching, breathing in time as they followed the tall blonde up and down the bay floor. It was... eerily beautiful... like a ballet...

Despite being outnumbered, Ace was holding her own. In fact, more than. She was getting in some good hits on Merry and Frankie, seeming to be greatly enjoying herself as she flipped artfully along. At one point, the girl fought for a few brief moments standing on her hands, giving her younger brother and sister each a playful slap to the face with the soles of her boots before springing away, laughing that they needed to work on their defense.

The redhead, Hunter, was with Jan. Mal thought the two with the smartest mouths made sense together. From what he'd seen of their interactions thus far, the captain would've expected them to be entangled in a vicious brawl, possibly one involving blood and sharpened toothbrushes. However, the pair was merely slowly working through some martial arts drills, chatting and laughing happily. Jan gave Hunter a boost into a standing flip and then she did the same for him. It was actually quite... amicable.

Mal walked to stand beside Zoe, one of his hands still at the small of Inara's back as the former companion watched the display with an obvious air of awe. "Ain't that somethin'," The captain remarked to his first mate, sucking in a hard breath when one of Murphy's vicious little kicks came dangerously close to one of Dana's more sensitive areas, "Guess Alliance trainin' is more than it's cracked up to be."

"Dana said they've been gettin' instruction in all forms a' combat since they were first brought to the facility," Zoe answered, dark eyes clinically surveying the spectacle. She, too, seemed impressed, following the action of the Ace-Merry-Frankie fight as they continued to move up and down the floor, sometimes into the air. "The older kids even got specializations," The tall woman added, nodding towards each as she spoke, "The twins were goin' into an airborne division as paratroopers. They've got three jumps a piece and were scheduled for more. Ace got field medic training and intensive combat training. Sally's the firearms, munitions, and artillery expert of the group. Dana was-"

"They were gonna make him a pilot!" Wash contributed excitedly, the little man's head of red blonde hair popping up from behind some boxes in the bay; his wheelchair was set on top of a row of crates and he appeared to have a very good seat from which to survey the action up close. Grinning broadly up at the captain, he chirped, "He'd been in leadership training for most of the time there, but I guess one of his superiors decided they'd try him in the flight program! Kid's got a few dozen hours in the simulator!"

Mal stared blankly, questioning, "Ain't the whole reason they were stuck on Persephone that he crashed their shuttle?"

Undeterred by that fact or his captain's lack of enthusiasm, Wash began wildly waving his thick, freckled arms through the air as he raved, "Ya, but I looked up the accident report and photos! He actually did a decent job of setting her down seeing as how he's got almost no training! No one was hurt and the property damage was minimal! The only reason they couldn't get her up in the air again was that the right rear thruster was damaged and that's common in general on smaller crafts! I think he's got a knack for flying! Can we please keep him? Pretty please? I could use another protégé!"

"You can measure a person's pilotin' potential from how they crash?" The captain asked, interesting piqued even though he didn't want it to be. He shook his head, gathering himself up a bit before amending, "Never mind. Anyway, I think keepin' 'em might be a bit of an issue. My first mate informs me that our mercenary is at this time locked on the bridge tryin' to arrange a place to leave 'em."

Inara leaned in closer to the conversation, her pretty face stony as she declared, "You are not abandoning those children."

"You givin' orders on my boat?" Mal challenged, raising an eyebrow but not moving his hand from its comfortable position at the small of her back.

One of the former-Companion's own perfectly-manicured brows arced slightly, the woman answering, "Your demon spawn incubating in my uterus?"

Mal frowned sheepishly, turning a bit red and muttering, "Well played."

"Alright, guys!" Dana's voice boomed out from below, drawing attention back to the nine brawling children just as their fights paused, as they congregated in a loose, rowdy circle in the center of the bay. The tall young man in the lead wiped his forehead with the back of his arm, beaming at Murphy, pulling her into an affectionate side-huge as he instructed, "Let's change it up. Any requests?"

"Ya," Sally answered, directly across from his older brother, a vaguely evil smirk twisting his hard features, "You're mine, Mouse."

Dana replied with a grin of his own, mockingly agreeing, "Whatever you want, baby brother. Who else?"

"Ace, can we do handsprings again?" Murphy pleaded, her sweet little face flushed adorably as she gave a shy smile and wave up at Gabe. He was sitting on the other side of the catwalks with Melody and the Tam triplets; they were all staring, their mouths wide open.

"Sure can, little one," Ace beamed, tightening her long blonde ponytail and offering a wink across the circle, "You know I love working with you."

"OOO! OOO! OOO!" Merry yelped loudly, hopping in place and waving his hand in the air, "I get the ginger kid!!"

Hunter answered with a _truly _evil smile--Mal suddenly realized that those of her older brothers didn't even come close to it--and stated, "You're going down, Mer."

Chuckling, Frankie rearranged herself so that she was standing in between Jan and Kelly, slinging a lean arm around each of their necks as she declared, "I can take the half-pints."

"Who are you calling a half-pint?" Jan demanded crossly, scowling and squirming under the tall brunette's arm.

"You, little brother," She replied with a loud giggle, bending down to lay a big, sloppy kiss on the teen's cheek.

The whole rest of the group laughed as Jan made a face and theatrically scrubbed the spot with the palm of his hand.

"Ok, we set then?" Dana finally asked, looking around at each of his siblings in turn. He got smiles and nods from all around. "Good," The young man stated, briefly running his fingers through his closely-cropped, sweat-drenched brown hair, "Let's get to it-"

The sentence was barely out of his mouth before Sally took a running start and came crashing into the slightly smaller teen's midsection, tackling him roughly to the ground. An impromptu wrestling match ensued and it was fairly obvious to Mal that neither boy was holding back. It was downright frightening. Both of them looked so much like their father that it felt as if he were watching Jayne roll around with himself, punch himself in the head, get himself into a chokehold and repeatedly declare victory as his other self gasped and struggled...

Huh.

That was an interesting scenario if he'd ever seen one.

The original Jayne chose that moment to come stomping in from the direction of the bridge, looking a lot more angry and ornery than usual... which was saying a lot...

"You get your wave through?" Mal questioned in his best captainy voice, inching Inara closer and closer to him with one hand as the other dove into his pocket and closed around the small ring box he was starting to think he'd be carrying there for the rest of his life. Proposals seventy-eight through eighty-three had fallen short over the course of the morning.

Jayne nodded, the big merc grim and worried as he peered out over the railing and down at his brood. "Ya," He said, voice tinged with slight pride at the sight he saw, at punches and kicks and chokeholds from his two eldest sons as the rest circled around them, cheering and egging them on. The moment passed quickly, his eyes coming back up to meet Mal's. "We got a problem," Jayne declared.

xxXxx

"Move your big butt, Hunter! I can't see!"

"Well, I can't see either! And my butt is not big! Take it back!!"

"_OW_!! Lay off the nipples!! I'm going to need those some day!!"

Dana sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his broad nose. He felt a headache coming on. It definitely wasn't from Jan and Hunter's constant bickering but the pair certainly weren't helping things.

"Separate," He ordered bluntly, fixing them with a hard stare and leaving absolutely no room for argument from the boy and girl. They obliged quickly, each taking a step away from the other and pouting sheepishly at their big brother; no one liked Dana's angry face.

Of course, the mug shot on the federal warrant depicted him in full-on angry-face mode, his own deep scowl and intense baby blue eyes glaring up at him from the cortex screen at the very end of the row of nine thumbnail pictures, one for each of their little rag-tag group.

"This is _so_ not good," Ace declared, toying nervously with the end of her long ponytail.

Clustered around the pilot chair and unable to look away from the cortex screen, all the kids gave brief nods of agreement.

"We're a youth gang?" Merry asked, his sweaty forehead furrowed in confusion as he scanned the attached text and then shared a brief look with his twin, "Since when are we a youth gang? Don't we need tattoos and, I don't know, some turf to qualify for youth gang status?"

"_Bi zui_," Sally hissed between clenched teeth. As the tallest, he was at the very back of the group that was leaning over the pilot's console but he could clearly see what was depicted on the bright screen. It was not making him very happy.

Merry frowned. "I'm just saying," He said, pouting, "Do we even look like the youth gang types?"

"With the pictures they chose for the warrant, ya, we kind of do," Hunter muttered, "It's a gorram conspiracy. They lie and make us look bad and just bank on some concerned citizen trying to do right by turning in a bunch of criminals. Classic Alliance strategy... what does the warrant say we did? Knock over a bank or something?"

"Um," Wash answered, pushing some buttons and bringing up a row of text over the top of the nine threatening mug shots. He was grim as he reported, "It says here you escaped from a juvenile detention facility and killed two people."

"_Tsai boo shr_!!" Ace shouted, her flushed face twisted in anger, "We didn't kill anyone!! Who are they saying we killed?"

Wash touched a few more buttons before replying, "It says here you slit Private Jeremy Lombardi's throat while he was sleeping and stole his I.D. in order to get yourselves off world and... oh, a laundry shuttle pilot named Talmai Sanchez. You stranded him in the desert and he died of exposure."

Gruesome photos of both corpses appeared side-by-side, wide-open, dead eyes staring back at the children. Murphy screamed, burying her face into Dana's stomach and crying quietly.

Dana wrapped his arms around the girl's trembling little body, glaring as Wash quickly closed the pictures. "Sorry," The pilot hastily apologized, trying and failing not to be utterly terrified of the looks of hatred he was getting from all around, "Damn pop-ups..."

"We're being set up," Hunter announced, frowning grimly as she crossed her slim freckled arms over her chest, "I told you."

"So, what they're sayin'," The captain warily asked from where he was standing with Zoe, Simon, Kaylee, and Jayne in the doorway, "It ain't true?"

"Of course it's not!" Dana snarled, picking Murphy up and hugging her fiercely against his chest as he tried to quiet her tears, "We'd never kill anyone! Private Lombardi was asleep when we snuck into the guard station. I made sure he was going to stay that way, tied him up, and stole his I.D., but he was definitely alive when we left and I certainly didn't slit his throat. We did strand the shuttle pilot, but we gave him a compass, and a map, and more than enough food and water to last until he could walk back to a settlement. Hunt's right. It's a set up."

The captain nodded stoically, agreeing, "I do believe you, but that's just all the more reason for us to be gettin' you kids someplace safe, settled down and hid."

Jayne's eyes fell to the floor.

Rocking Murphy in his arms and glaring at his father, Dana grumbled, "Sure. Whatever."

"Ooooh," Merry suddenly stated, drawing all attention on himself. The brunette blushed slightly, chuckling, "Sorry. I just figured out that Dirty Sanchez thing. You know, since Sanchez is the laundry pilot?"

His siblings stared blankly, clearly not amused.

"He's in charge of dirty laundry," Merry tried to explain, "Get it? _Dirty_ Sanchez..."

"I'm sure it's a coincidence, Mer," Hunter told him with a rather condescending pat on the head, "Sanchez is a fairly common name."

The teen shrugged.

"How much reward are they offering?" Jan piped up, craning his neck to see over the top of Hunter's head.

The slim redhead rolled her eyes, firing back, "Why? You planning on turning yourself in for it?"

Jan scowled, poking her hard in the shoulder before snapping, "No. I'm just curious how much they think we're worth."

There was a brief pause among the children... and then they began shoving once again, calling out to Wash to bring up his or her photo first so that each could check the price on his or her head.

Murphy fought her way out of Dana's arms to get in on the action; he stood back, rolling his eyes.

"Gorramn," Ace declared, clearly impressed as her eyes slid over each picture as it came up in order of age, "Two million credits for Mouse, and a million a piece for Sally and me."

"_Shuh muh_?" Mal choked, blue eyes growing large in his skull.

"Two million for Mouse, one a piece for Sally and me," Ace repeated, not looking away from the screen, "Their justification on the warrants is that Mouse is the leader and Sally and me are the seconds in command. I'd guess the real reason is that Mouse is technically a deserter as of today, and Sally and I only had a year left before we could've been put into combat. They're probably anxious to get back the cadets they invested the most in."

Wash shrugged and pushed more buttons, commenting, "Makes sense."

Another set of photos came up and the girl smirked as she stated, "Seventy-five-thousand each for the twins."

"Alright!" Merry and Frankie chirped in unison, vigorously slapping hands.

Dana's glare was quickly turning into a pout as his disapproving expression continued to be ignored by all his assorted siblings.

"Seventy-five-thousand for Jan," Ace declared, causing the boy in question to smirk smugly.

The next picture to come up was Hunter's; Dana could make out her flaming red hair even several paces back from the console, even with all the bodies standing in the way. However, Ace did not announce her price and the crowd of children became oddly silent.

"What?" Dana asked, unable to sit idly by while something important or upsetting was happening to his brothers and sisters, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Five million," Ace stated, her voice shaking slightly, "They're offering _five million_ for Hunt."

Everyone was trying not to stare at the redhead but doing a rather poor job.

She remained quite stoic, only her cornflower blue eyes moving as she read the text beneath her menacing picture. "Says here I'm a vicious, psychotic sociopath with irrepressible homicidal urges," The girl stated very softly, "I'm an immediate danger to the public and to myself, and should not be approached under any circumstances."

More silence fell.

A thick lump rose up in Dana's throat and it wouldn't go away no matter how many times he tried to choke it down.

xxXxx

"_Happy birthday to you_!!"

Dana couldn't remember the last time anyone sung "Happy Birthday" to him or even if such a thing had ever happened at all.

"_Happy birthday to you_!!"

He didn't really know the words and felt unbearably awkward sitting at the kitchen table in front of a lump of blue protein with eighteen candles stuck in it, surrounded by his brothers and sisters, his father, his step-mother, step-aunt, step-uncle, step-cousins, and other assorted crew of the old firefly. The young man could tell that his face was flushed red and it had absolutely nothing to do with the heat that was coming off the small bonfire before him; he really wished he would've had more luck convincing Miss Kaylee that he didn't need a birthday cake.

"_Happy birthday dear MMMOOOOUUUUSSSSEEEE_!!"

He sighed when the assorted voices of his brothers and sisters completely drowned out the rest of the crew just so that they could have their name for him sung. Oh well, at least the cake said "Dana."

And he guessed it was kind of nice to celebrate like that, to have everyone take a moment out of their lives to acknowledge the day his began eighteen long years ago. Made him feel... wanted... and in the good way, not the million-dollar-price-on-his-head way.

His eyes cut to Hunter, to the obvious confusion she wore on her pretty face, to her barely contained terror. He hated that he didn't understand what had happened to her, that he probably wouldn't ever and that he couldn't take it away. The brunette supposed just being there for her whenever she needed him, and sometimes when she didn't, would have to do.

"_Happy birthday to yoooooouuuuuuu_!!"

Dana took a big breath, smiling slightly and trying to fight his blush as he leaned forward to blow out his candles. The flames all vanished in one big _whoosh_ and the kitchen plunged into darkness. There was laughter and cheers and applause; it was without a doubt the best birthday he'd ever had, never mind that he had absolutely nothing to compare it to. He didn't see how finally having both his freedom and his family could ever be beat.

"Ok," Miss Kaylee chirped happily, her sunny face appearing over his shoulder just as the lights came on. She began cutting up the cake--it was pretty much the same thing they'd just eaten for dinner, she'd said, but it was still just about the shiniest thing ever--and stated, "I think you got some presents comin' to ya. Why don't we take care a' that while I'm passin' out slices?"

He felt the blood rush back to his face and spluttered, "You guys didn't have to-"

"Mouse," Ace cut him off, grinning impishly before producing a lop-sided bundle all wrapped up in tissue paper from underneath her chair, "Are you going to shut up and enjoy this or am I going to have to gag you?"

A smirk fought its way onto the young man's face as he teasingly placated, "I'll be good, mother."

"Don't you sass me boy," His sister shot back, not skipping a beat. She threw the package onto the table and stated, "From Sally and me, along with our hearty congratulations on _finally_ becoming a man."

Dana chuckled and shook his head as he tore open the paper. He found himself holding a rather nice red t-shirt with a laughing cartoon mouse printed on the front. Rolling his eyes but unable to wipe the smile off his face, the teen commented, "Thanks, guys. You shouldn't have."

"Our pleasure," Sally answered, sharing a rather sinister grin with Ace.

Dana sighed. "You stole it while we were on Persephone, didn't you?" He accused, already knowing the answer.

Another shared grin.

Another sigh from Dana.

"Well," He mused, "I admire your foresight."

"Ours next!!" Merry, Kelly, Murphy, Gabe, and Melody sang out, the kids all scrambling from their chairs and sprinting towards one of the kitchen cabinets. They congregated and giggled maniacally as they dug through the pots and pans before finally racing back to the table with sheets of paper clutched in their hands.

"Happy birthday, Mouse!" The five declared, shoving their gifts forward.

Frowning a bit over the fact that Melody had already been taught to call him "Mouse," Dana glanced down at what he was now holding. The frown melted away, replaced by a fond smile. He leafed slowly through several dozen crayon drawings--a smiling mouse, a deep red sunset, a dinosaur, a spaceship, and a stick-figure portrait--as he stated, "Wow, thanks. These are great!"

"I know," Merry smugly agreed, preening quite theatrically while Dana reached out to hug Kelly, Murphy, and Melody, "I'm thinking of becoming an artist."

"It's second on his list, right behind lion tamer," Frankie laughed, leaning over to hug Dana as well. She kissed her brother sweetly on the cheek before stating, "My present is that I helped Miss Kaylee with the cake. I did the frosting and the letters."

Dana looked down at the neat "Happy Birthday Dana" smooshed onto the surface of the confection and a bright smile spread across his face. "Thanks, Frankie," He said, crushing the slim brunette into a fierce hug, "I love it."

Across the table, Jan cleared his throat loudly, elbowing Hunter as he stated, "We've got one for you, too. Hand it over, Hunt."

Still upset and sulking, the redhead showed very little emotion as she produced a tangle of wire and metal scrap and set it on the table. All eyes were on the girl but she didn't seem to notice or care, simply fiddling with some exposed components before removing her hands and going back to moping.

Two little red lights came on in the mess of metal just seconds before the whole thing started to move, unfolding and rearranging until it was propped up on the table by four thin legs. Dana, along with everyone else, was impressed to realize that the hunk of scrap was a simple robot.

The creature took slow, measured steps forward, the small LED lights that served as eyes blinking as it walked the width of the table right to Dana. He grinned broadly at his little sister, picking the contraption up and pointing it down towards the plainly awed doctor. "Shiny," He commented, "Thanks, you two."

Hunter merely shrugged but Jan was quickly to sling his arm around her slim shoulders, proudly declaring, "It was all the ginger kid's doing. Miss Kaylee gave her the parts, I held the wire cutters, and she did the rest."

"That's real impressive, Hunter," Wash commented, unable to hide his glee, "Finally, a pet Mal won't make us get rid of!"

"I highly doubt a robot's gonna go messin' in the bay or chewin' up my boots," The captain defended, pausing a beat before sternly adding, "At least it better not, little girl."

Looking irrationally hurt by the statement, Hunter noisily shoved her chair away from the table and fled the room. Jan got up to follow, but Ace pushed him back down in his chair. "We'll talk to her," The blonde murmured, sharing a nod with Frankie as she, too, got up from her seat, "No worries."

Even though the boy frowned in dissatisfaction, he remained in the kitchen as Ace and Frankie followed after Hunter, whispering heatedly. Jan settled for glaring menacingly at the confused captain.

"What'd I say?" Mal asked the group at large, clearly clueless.

Inara rolled her eyes behind his back, answering, "You opened your mouth, Mal. What did you think was going to happen?"

Dana felt a tug on his sleeve and reluctantly glanced away from his sisters' retreating forms and his brother's look of hatred and the captain's look of annoyance. The young man nearly jumped clean out of his skin when he found himself face-to-face with the Tam triplets.

"Go on 'n tell Dana what you're gonna do for his birthday," Their mother prodded sweetly, leading Dana to once again wonder how it was possible for those three little monsters to have come from such a nice woman.

Ben, the brunette with Miss Kaylee's warm (deceivingly on him) brown eyes, flashed a smirk of pure evil. "We promise not to tie you up again," He offered.

"For a little while," Lukas, the dark-haired one, added manically, just low enough so Dana could hear and his mama could not.

Noah, the not-so-bright redhead, grinned like a deranged jack-o-lantern.

Dana felt himself get a rather severe case of the chills and vowed, for the hundredth time, to never again offer to babysit the demon spawn of _Serenity_'s doctor and mechanic.

Before he could think about it too much though, his vision suddenly became blocked, his senses overwhelmed by the warm scent of heavy wool. "Just like his father," A soft, musical voice cooed as he was wrestled further and further into the material, "Looks best in red."

Dana's head reemerged into the world and he glanced down to find that he was wearing a thick, hand-knitted sweater. The garment was a dark shade of crimson and fit him perfectly, snug and warm. He grinned at his step-mother and her loopy smile.

"She knits," The slight woman happily stated, looking quite proud of herself and him.

"Thank you, Miss River," Dana answered, unable to resist running his hands over the soft material across his broad chest. He was awed almost into shock; no one had ever made him a sweater before... it seemed like such a... _motherly_ thing to do...

"She welcomes him," Miss River declared, getting all teary as she threw her spindly arms around him for a great big hug.

"How touching," Wash interrupted, giving a theatrical, rather dreamy sigh, leaning his head on one hand. Attention shifted to him. He didn't seem to mind very much, or even notice for quite a few minutes.

When he finally did, the man perked up, gathering himself up in his chair as he chirped, "Oh, my turn? _Shiny_." He dug into the one of the saddlebags attached to the sides of his seat, rifling through a great deal of plastic dinosaurs before finally producing a square of paper and stretching across the table to stick it to Dana's chest. The teen looked down and saw that he was now wearing a crayon badge that read "PROTÉGÉ."

"Report to the bridge at 09:00 for your first flight lesson," Wash declared, grinning like mad.

Dana's jaw damn near hit the floor. "Really?" He asked, stunned, "No kidding? You're going to teach me to fly?"

"That's the plan," Wash brightly replied, "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks!" Dana answered, still completely amazed, not to mention... well, excited out of his mind. Being a pilot had always seemed like one of the coolest things that could've come out of his Alliance training, even if it never did happen for real. Getting a second chance to try was like a dream come true!

Miss Kaylee finished passing out the cake and excused herself with another three slices to deliver to Ace, Frankie, and Hunter. After she left, there didn't seem to be anymore presents so the conversation turned to other things. The doctor immediately became embroiled in a desperate attempt at keep his three little monsters from splattering any of their treat on the walls of the kitchen. Sally sat quietly in his seat, glaring as Murphy laughed with Gabe. Merry joked happily with Kelly, Melody, Wash, and River; they were all full to bursting with optimism and energy. Jan was sulking, picking half-heartedly at his slice, but the first mate was making a seemingly earnest attempt at engaging him in speech. The woman was very patient with his cranky brother and Dana was very grateful to her.

Jayne slid into a chair on Dana's left, fidgeting nervously for a few moments before discreetly sliding a little red pocket knife to him. "I plan on gettin' ya somethin' better once we hit land," The old man muttered gruffly, "All a' ya'll. I wanna, I dunno, get ya clothes and such. But I thought that might come in handy."

The young man was fairly touched by the gesture and managed a shy smile as he deftly inspected the immaculately shining blade. "Thanks," He returned quietly.

Jayne nodded, scratching uncomfortably at his dark hair before stating, "I was gonna talk to ya 'bout settin' you up with my family but I still ain't got through. I'll know more in a day 'r two."

Dana nodded. "Alright," He said, "Keep me informed."

"Will do," His father agreed, staying for another few moments, offering a weak grin before getting up and crossing to the other end of the table.

Dana couldn't help the smile that came across his face as he watched the big man scoop both Murphy and Melody out of their chairs and sit the girls side-by-side on his massive lap.

The young man was content for a few moments, simply eating blue protein cake and listening to the rise and fall of laughter in the kitchen. Sally seemed to be calming down a bit since Murphy was no longer sitting directly beside Gabe, and Jan was opening up to Zoe, sitting on the couch with the stony soldier woman and talking softly.

"What do you mean you couldn't find anything?" Dana heard Inara hiss. From the corner of his eye, he could just barely make out her and the captain standing near the counter and arguing fiercely. "I put you in charge of finding a birthday present for Dana!" The woman berated, "You could have at least made him a card, seeing as how I spent all day in bed because of the_ excruciating_ _pain _I'm in thanks to your little demon!"

"Don't see why we gotta give him anything," Mal grumbled, sounding very much like a little boy being scolded by his mother, "I figure the free ride to Cinnabar and then pro'ly Galena's enough. Not to mention all the food I been providin', and the fact that I didn't flush him out the air lock when he swore at me! That's gotta be good to cover at least the next two birthdays!"

Dana heard Inara growl audibly just before he heard a small yelp of pain from the captain. When he looked again, the teen saw Mal was scowling and rubbing his shoulder as he and the former-Companion glared daggers at one another. "You are insufferable!" Inara declared under her breath, "I can't trust you to do anything I ask!"

"If you think you can do better, _your majesty_," Mal mocked, "Then you are most welcome to try!"

"Fine!" Inara snapped, followed very quickly by an equally enraged, "Fine!" from Mal.

Next thing Dana knew, the heavily-pregnant, still radiantly beautiful woman had taken occupancy in the previously-open seat beside him. She smiled in a very soothing way, letting one slim hand rest on the teen's muscular thigh.

He choked hard on his mouthful of cake, feeling his entire face stain red very rapidly.

This could not end well.

"I just wanted to congratulate you again on turning eighteen," She beamed softly, dark eyes fixed unwaveringly on his, "It is a big step in your life, Dana. Many cultures consider eighteen the entrance into manhood."

"Uh, ya," The brunette managed rather unintelligently, still attempting to dislodge blue protein from his windpipe, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," The lady answered politely, still not moving her hand, "Many cultures also have rituals and... special events that are associated with the idea of a boy becoming a man. If I can be of assistance in arranging any of those events for you, please don't hesitate to let me know."

It took a moment for the offer to sink in. When it did, Dana's face got impossibly redder.

"Su-U-re," He squeaked shrilly, wanting nothing more than to disappear into the floor.

Inara gave him a lovely, calming smile, squeezing his thigh lightly as she stated, "Don't be embarrassed. It is perfectly natural and something nearly everyone goes through."

Dana only nodded, not particularly trusting his voice... or the death glare he could sense against the back of his neck; Mal didn't seem too thrilled with Inara's offer and was likely to kill the brawny teen just for the misfortunate of being on the receiving end of it.

She sent him one more brilliant smile before slowly pulling herself up to her feet, brushing a chaste kiss against his cheek, and waddling away with her hands supporting her bulging stomach. "See," Dana heard her boast to the captain, "Was that really so hard?"

"Not all a' us have whore friends to hand out to birthday boys," Mal grumbled crossly.

Dana tuned out of the screaming match the came next, that thankfully was only an echo against bulkheads as the volatile pair moved towards the shuttle where they both resided.

He was still feeling slightly like he just got run over by a hovercraft when he saw another body slide into the free chair at his side; he was not entirely sure he could handle anymore shocks but reluctantly turned.

Sally was grinning broadly at him. "If you don't want your birthday present," The black-haired behemoth offered with a suggestive wink and waggle of his bushy eyebrows, "Can I have it?"

Dana put his head down on the table and tried not to scream. Maybe there was a thing or two to be said for skipping birthdays...

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

ta made niao - goddamned

swai - cute

hun dan - bastard

bi zui - shut up

tsai boo shr - no way

shuh muh - what?; excuse me?

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

P.T. - Physical Training

Sorry this one took so long. School work has been taking up far too much of my time. Damn real world concerns... anyways, reviewers will receive my assistance in arranging any of those "special" events in their lives...

Oh, not like that! Get your minds out of the gutter, people! Inara was _obviously_ just offering to help him register to vote!!

And cue the hysterical laughter...


	6. Part 6: Cabin Fever

Part 6 - Cabin Fever

Kelly Alan Green could not sleep. He could not even close his eyes.

Far back as the twelve-year-old remembered, his brothers and sisters had oftentimes remarked on how full of energy he always was; Hunter called him a supernova once, a stellar explosion that could outshine a galaxy. Kelly would be hard-pressed to disagree.

However, he really had no idea of the depths of his reserves, not until he found himself on a rather small, certainly very cramped spaceship with very little outlet for that suddenly seemingly endless energy. Never before had the boy so appreciated the full days of physical exhaustion the fine Alliance had been providing for him since before he could walk.

Dana's meager attempts at keeping their rag-tag group active had fizzled out after just the first few days. P.T. had been half-hearted, at best, and most now considered it optional. The Mouse wasn't really arguing too much; he spent the bulk of his free time up on the bridge now, drilling _Serenity_'s pilot about anything and everything to do with flying.

The blonde couldn't find it in his heart to fault his big brother for that--Dana really did love flying, after all; Ace commented more and more that the teen was downright obsessive, and a perfectionist, to boot. Still, Kelly would have liked something more than hundreds of push-ups and an occasional spar with whichever of his siblings he could con into it when the ones before got bored. Even helping Dr. Tam chase his three hyperactive, disturbingly destructive sons for hours and hours--long after the man gave up and went off to medicate himself--didn't do much to deplete Kelly's energy, not nearly enough to let him sleep soundly, anyways.

So there he was, wide-awake for the fourth night-cycle in a row, and he had nothing to do but drum his fingers against his stomach and stare forlornly at the ceiling.

It was getting so bad that he was considering asking permission from the captain to simply run laps of the ship until his scrawny legs gave out. As Kelly'd learned from the Tam triplets' example, running through _Serenity _was frowned upon; he wasn't too fond of running, either, but things were taking a desperate turn; the less sleep he got, the more antsy he became.

Maybe he would ask tomorrow, the boy decided. It wouldn't help his case at all if the sounds of his boots stomping against the metal grates woke the whole boat. But right then, Kelly thought that a walk--a quiet one--would at least help pass the time until artificial morning.

He got to his feet, silent and careful not to wake any of his brothers and sisters as he crept over them. He was going to have to rearrange his bedroll, the boy observed; he needed to be someplace where he could more easily get out without disturbing anyone. The majority of his siblings would probably--definitely--kick his _pi-gu_ if he stepped on them in the middle of the night-cycle. They were a rather violent bunch, but Kelly couldn't help but love every last one. They were his family, the only one had had ever known.

A large, looming shape twitched in the dim emergency lighting before bolting straight up off the floor. Dana peered at him from just a few feet away. "Where ya goin'?" He demanded in a sleep-hoarse growl, hardly seeming conscious as he stared deliriously.

Kelly smirked. He should've known better than to think he could get by the Mouse without notice; that guy was like a gorram guard dog.

"I can't sleep," The scrawny blonde whispered in reply, finishing the last of the obstacle course of bedrolls before kneeling down by Dana's. He offered his bleary-eyed brother a bright, peppy grin and got glowered at for it. "I was going to take a walk," The boy went on, not hurt at all because he was well aware of the fact that he was really the only morning person of the bunch, "Don't worry. I'll be back soon."

The brawny brunette stared blankly for a few moments, blinking heavily, before finally grunting, "'K." Dana then slumped into his bedroll, turned on his side, and immediately fell back asleep. Kelly giggled as the Mouse began to snore; his brother probably wouldn't even remember the confrontation come artificial dawn.

Kelly merely wandered for a bit, exploring into the dark infirmary and the passenger dorms where the doctor, mechanic, and their children slept. Nothing in that area was too terribly interesting though, so the boy headed up.

He strolled along the catwalks and down the hallway of crew bunks, stopping for a moment to inspect the elevator contraption that had been rigged to transport Wash's wheelchair in and out of his room. The machine was pretty nifty; Hunter had been gushing to Miss Kaylee about it and all other things mechanical for days.

He peeked into the bridge and took a few moments to admire the view out the front window. The spacescape really were quite impressive, all vast and nothingnessy, but, at that moment, he didn't have the attention span necessary to gaze at it admiringly for very long.

And touching buttons would be a _very_ bad idea.

A very, _very_ bad idea.

Tempting as they were...

Kelly definitely would have been able to resist had one of the screens not suddenly lit up, displaying that a wave was coming in. The boy looked all through the cockpit and back down the hallway and saw no one. And, well, _someone_ was going to have to answer that wave.

It could be important.

So, of course, he took it upon himself to see what it was about. He was just helping the crew; he was also grinning widely as he plopped ungracefully into the pilot's chair and hit the _ACCEPT_ spot on the monitor.

Within a few moments, a white-haired old woman appeared in the vid. "_Hello?_" She said, her little wrinkled face apprehensive but hopeful, "_This _Serenity"

"Yes, Ma'am," Kelly reported happily, quietly, "You got the right ship. What can I do for you?"

"_Oh, thank the Lord!_" She wailed, soft old blue eyes briefly rolling heavenward, "_I been tryin' to get through fer days 'n days! I really need talk to my son, Jayne Cobb. He waved awhile ago 'n said it was important he got to talk to me. Now, I ain't sure 'bout what, but Winnie, that's my grandbaby, she said he told her somethin'd happened. I been worried sick thinkin' it was somethin' bad! But he also said he might be visitin' and, well, that's just 'bout the best news I heard in near ten years!_"

The grin on Kelly's sweet face grew larger and larger as he listened to the old woman ramble and realized that she was his grandmother. The boy deftly tried, without success, to control his matted riot of blonde curls by smooshing them down with both hands. He wanted to look presentable!

"_Everybody here is all excited that he might come_," The woman went on happily, "_William and Tess've been missin' their little brother, and Hannah Lynn ain't stopped bouncing since she heard her Jaynie was visitin'! Her 'n Mattie idolized him growin' up. They never really got over him leavin'. And the grandkids!! Goodness, half a' 'em ain't never met him! Billy 'members him, 'n Retta 'n Ethan, too, but the rest were either too young or not even bore yet!_"

She stopped abruptly, wrinkled cheeks taking on a light blush. "_Listen to me_," She laughed warmly as she patted down her immaculate white bun, "_Yammerin' on 'n on! You'll have to excuse this old woman, son. I'm just so very excited!_"

"That's ok," Kelly answered happily, the great goofy smile on his face growing impossibly larger, "I don't mind... should I, uh, go and wake Jayne for you?"

"_If it wouldn't be too much trouble_," The woman beamed, "_Ain't you a sweet boy? What's your name, darlin', and which a' the crew do you belong to?_"

The boy opened his mouth to answer, however, the only thing that left it was a rather shrill and unmanly shriek as a large hand closed on his bony shoulder. Whirling wildly around, he had great designs about facing his attacker but only managed to knock himself straight out of the pilot's seat.

Staring up at his father from the floor, the blonde offered a sheepish, apologetic smile.

Jayne didn't quite return it, stoically helping the boy to his feet, giving him a brief nod of acknowledgement before turning to the vid screen, to his mother's anxious, elated face. "His name's Kelly, Ma," The mercenary declared, lowering his massive body into the seat, "He's mine and there's plen'y more where he came from..."

xxXxx

Mal flew awake to the sound of a scream and was tumbling out of Inara's warm bed and struggling into his trousers before he knew what was what. Ignoring the pregnant woman's sleepy inquiries as to what the _guay_ he was doing, as well as the fact that he'd only managed to get one leg into his pants, the captain bolted out of the shuttle and onto the catwalk. Not quite fully awake, he scanned frantically for signs of the source of the noise that had yanked him so abruptly from his peaceful dreams. If it was another psychotic bounty hunter, he was going to lose his gorram mind.

At the top of the stairs, Mal collided hard with an equally frantic and disoriented young man who had also been drawn from sleep by the frightened scream; the young man went by the name of Dana Mao.

The rather loud, sickening crash of bodies and subsequent curses as both of their owners were hurled roughly to the metal flooring woke Sally with a start, the massive teen jerking abruptly and rolling from his side to his back. One of his massive arms flung out limply, coming down just above Murphy's head, narrowly missing crushing the girl. Unfortunately, his elbow dropped directly onto the tip of Merry's nose and his fist slammed right into Frankie's.

"OUCH!!" The pair of brunettes yelped, flying awake with blood already gushing down their faces. Their cries quickly woke Ace, Murphy, and Hunter in quick succession. During the mass general chaos that followed, Mal and Dana managed to pull themselves up from the ground, stumble about and glare at each other dizzily, and then race for the bridge, the source of a long string of continued shouting.

"_Jayne Cobb!! How could you!!_" A scratchy voice blared out of the vid screen, "_Of all the irresponsible _go-se_ you've ever done, this one sure takes the cake!!_"

Mal arrived just in time to see his big strong mercenary hang his head in shame and his big strong mercenary's little son burst into tears.

"_Oh, don't cry, Kelly darlin'!_" The white-haired woman in the vid screen soothed, beginning to get a bit misty herself, "_I didn't mean anything bad 'bout you! This ain't your fault at all and I'm only upset 'cuz I didn't know about you sooner! I love you just like crazy 'cuz you're my grandbaby! I certainly can't never get enough grandbabies!_"

"Quit cryin'," Jayne snapped gruffly, "You didn't do nothin'!"

The shouting only made Kelly cry harder.

And seeing Kelly crying made Dana angry. "Don't you dare yell at him!" The brawny teen snarled, dropping to a knee beside his little brother and pulling the sensitive twelve-year-old into a comforting hug, "Come on, Kel, it's alright. Don't listen to him. What happened?"

"What's goin' on in here?" The captain demanded, glaring crossly at Jayne.

The big man frowned guiltily, proclaiming, "I didn't do nothin', Mal!"

"_Who's that there?_" The vid blared elatedly, "_That another one of my grandbabies? Come closer, boy, 'n let your ole gramma get a look at ya!_"

The startled, nervous expression that froze over Dana's face was utterly priceless. Ace was just in time to see it.

"What's the word, Mouse?" She inquired through a sleepy yawn as she came strolling confidently onto the bridge, "We under attack or something?"

"_Oh, Lord have mercy!_" The white-haired woman in the vid cut in once more, quite joyously sniffly now as her gaze flew to the tall girl who walked into her line of sight, "_Why, ain't you just the purtiest thing I ever did see!! Come on over here, darlin'! What's your name?_"

Grinning happily as she leaned closer to the vid camera, the seventeen-year-old pushed a handful of tousled blonde hair away from her ice blue eyes and declared, "I'm Ace. It's nice to meet you, Ma'am."

"_Now, now_," Mrs. Cobb scolded brightly, "_None a' that _Ma'am_ nonsense! You call me Gramma, just like all the others! Goodness, I can't wait to get all a' ya'll out here!! You're beautiful _and _polite! Maybe it's a good thing my Jayne didn't raise you after all!_"

"Ma!" The big man protested, distractedly watching over Kelly as Dana continued to calm the boy.

"_Don't you _Ma_ me, Jayne Michael Cobb!!_" His mother scolded furiously, "_I'm rackin' up far too many grandbabies I ain't never met!! One, I can _mayb_e forgive. I ain't never liked the fact that you were workin' too hard to bring Melody by. Hell, I'm still gonna tan your hide when I see you for goin' off 'n marryin' the girl's ma someplace that weren't here! But this is the last straw!! I ain't 'bout to let this stand any longer! I don't care how you do it, you'd just better get_ all_ my grandbabies here gorram soon!! That understood?_"

Face flushing to a rather unflattering shade of carnation pink, Jayne hung his head and dutifully replied, "Yes, Ma."

With a huffy but satisfied nod, old Mrs. Cobb turned next to Mal, who was standing back and looking mighty confused. "_Cap'n Reynolds_," She greeted pleasantly, "_I would be very much obliged to put you and your crew up for as long as you wanna stay if you'll just see to it that my kin get themselves home_."

"That's a right generous offer, Ma'am," The captain stated, still rubbing his shoulder where he collided with Dana; that boy was dense as a brick wall... "I suppose I don't see the harm in swingin' by Galena for a spell after we make our drop on Cinnabar."

"_Thank you_," The old woman answered happily, "_Now, I can see my wave must've woke everybody so I'll let you get back to sleep. In the mornin', I want another call, 'n I want all my grandbabies present. Got that, Jaynie?_"

Sticking to what worked, the mercenary curtly stated, "Yes, Ma."

She gave a brief, huffy nod to her son before turning to her present grandchildren. "_I'll talk to ya'll tomorrow_," She told them happily, "_And I sure can't wait to see you in person! Be good, darlin's!_"

"We will," Ace answered with a bright yawn, "Bye, Gramma."

The vid screen cut to blackness. Ace was the only one who was even remotely pleased with the situation. "She seems nice," The girl declared, obliviously glancing around at the moody men. "By the way," She added on the way out, "Merry and Frankie are bleeding everywhere. Just F.Y.I., Mouse."

Groaning feebly, the teenager hefted Kelly, who was still sniffling sadly, up from the ground and tiredly carried him after their sister.

Mal's far sleepier brain took a moment longer to register the statement and, when it did, the captain immediately chased after the kids, calling, "What do you mean 'bleedin' everywhere'?!"

When they were all gone, Jayne let his body go limp in the pilot's chair, let his breath leave and his eyes close. The past week or so had been one of the most stressful in his entire life. He was still in just a bit of shock and adjusting to having ten children was _not easy_. Hell, the merc barely handled Melody, and she was just one rather well-behaved little girl...

He didn't hear River approach but he smelled her light scent from a few feet off; he kept his eyes closed and waited.

The lithe woman did not disappoint, climbing gracefully into her husband's lap and cuddling him close, trying to comfort his inner turmoil with expert touches learned over nearly a decade of being together.

"Jayne-bear must have trust," River wisely advised, "Little bears only desire his love, freely given." She cupped his face between her cool, thin hands.

Jayne opened his eyes, his light blue meeting her dark, burnt brown.

Smiling, River stated, "Time provides scar tissue for all wounds. The crusty sores will close and be only another story told round the fire."

Feeling better, as was always his little wife's miraculous effect on him, Jayne gave a watery grin, hugging her close and burying his face against her smooth hair. "Sure hope you're right, baby doll," He told her, "I only wanna do right by 'em. Already messed up so bad..."

"You burden yourself with things that could not have been helped," River hummed sleepily, "Had to wait to tell you, wait for the little bears to escape the circus. All rescue scenarios involved mass casualties."

Understanding perfectly what she meant, Jayne just nodded. He stayed for another few moments wrapped in his wife's arms before finally pulling away and setting her gently on her feet. "You go on back to bed, baby doll," He said, kissing her forehead, "I'm gonna see if I can help the kids with whatever's goin' on."

River nodded as she turned to leave, calling over her shoulder, "Perhaps a game tomorrow. Kelly cannot sleep because he cannot run. He is the supernova."

Surprised by how much sense that made, Jayne jogged off to aid his children.

xxXxx

Sally kept his head down during breakfast, awkwardly sneaking glances at Merry's and Frankie's puffy, bruised noses. Despite their adamant insistence that his unfortunately placed arm had been a complete accident and they both forgave him for the minor injuries they'd sustained, the black-haired behemoth didn't seem to be getting over his guilt at having hurt his brother and sister.

He picked at his protein for awhile before simply shoveling it onto Dana's plate and excusing himself. The Mouse was happy for the extra food and he and the others weren't too concerned with Sally. They were all so hyped up about the brief introduction they'd had with their grandmother not quite twenty minutes earlier.

Sally wandered back into the bay, flopping gracelessly into his bedroll and planning on a nap; he'd barely gotten back to sleep after the wave incident when Jayne roused them all rather ungently to answer the next one. Ace had already commented about how especially cranky the teen was that morning.

He'd barely had his eyes closed for two minutes before a trio of giggles wafted into his ears. The giant opened one dark cerulean eye and gazed at the hovering faces of Noah, Lukas, and Benjamin Tam. "Can I help you?" Sally asked, highly suspicious because, as hilarious as what they did to the Mouse was, he didn't want to be their next victim.

"We're playin' hide-'n-go-seek," Lukas, the dark-haired one declared, pale blue eyes shining brightly, "Cap'n said everybody's gotta play so's Kelly gets tired out."

Sally groaned; he hated hide-and-go-seek.

"I hate hide-and-go-seek," The teen complained under his breath as he pulled himself upright, "All I want is a nap."

"_Weeeellll_," Ben suggested helpfully, a maniacal glint in his whisky brown eyes, "If you get a head start, you could probably find a smugglin' compartment to hide in where nobody's gonna look for you. There are lots no one would think of and then you could just sleep there!"

Sally's desire not to be bothered outweighed his better judgment. "Mind showing me a good one?" The teen asked hopefully.

Little copper-haired Noah nodded like a bobble-head doll, already sprinting off towards the staircase as he conspiratorially whispered, "Sure! Come on! We got a perfect spot!"

Dragging his pillow, Sally allowed himself to be led to the upper level, to the bunk hall just past the kitchen. He could hear the bulk of the passengers still gathered there, and he heard snatches of conversation, of Merry laughing, "No way! That's not fair! What kind of game is this?"

The Tam triplets hustled Sally quickly along until they reached the engine room. Over the dull hum that echoed throughout the space, Lukas pointed to a panel just above the inside of the doorway and stated, "See? Just move the grate and crawl in. No one ever thinks to look there 'cuz none of us are tall enough to really reach it."

"Shiny," Sally quipped, playfully tousling the boy's hair as he handed his pillow to Noah, "Thanks, guys. Toss that up to me, ya?"

"Sure!" Noah chirped, freckled, chubby-cheeked face spit by a wide grin.

Sally easily clambered up, removing the panel to reveal a narrow cloister. He took a brief moment to sweep out a bit of the dust and then slid his big body inside. It was a tight fit, but not too bad, especially after Ben took the pillow from Noah and lobbed it up and the teen could used it to prop his head off the cool metal. With a terse salute downwards, the black-haired young man called, "Thanks again. Come and get me when this _fang-zong feng-kuang de jie_ is over."

"'Course," Ben promised sweetly.

Sally slid the panel into place and squirmed to get comfy. Before too long, he was fast asleep.

Over the soothing hum of the engine, he didn't hear sound of the power drill as the Tam triplets, standing on top of each other's shoulders like a demonic totem pole, bolted the metal grate firmly into place.

xxXxx

"Where's Sally?" Dana wondered aloud, glancing about the cargo bay as the passengers trickled in to begin "Operation Tire Kelly the Gorram Hell Out So He Doesn't Wake Us At Ungodly Times With His Girlish Screams."

Hunter suggested the name, all the while glaring at Jan for sleeping through the whole debacle; the fifteen-year-old was well-rested and, for him at least, quite chipper.

When the issue of Kelly's insomnia had been brought up over breakfast, Jayne suggested some hoopball. Dana and his siblings had never before heard of the game so the crew spent the second half of the meal explaining the rules to them. Basically, there were none.

It was his kind of game.

"You just missed him," Lukas answered as he and his brothers suddenly appeared, smiling innocently up at Dana and making the hair on the back of the teen's neck stand on end, "He said he didn't want to play and went to sleep on the bridge. He said to tell you to keep it the _guay_ down."

That sounded like Sally; he wasn't a big fan of organized sports, much preferring weightlifting, long-distance running, and an occasional fight as his means of exercise and amusement. Dana dismissed him easily.

"Language, baby," Miss Kaylee scolded, bending to lovingly cuddle her all three of her little boys at once.

Lukas sighed theatrically, trying to act like he wasn't enjoying himself as he defended, "I was just sayin' what Sally said, Mama."

"He shouldn't be sayin' it neither," The sunny woman replied, letting Lukas and Ben squirm out of her tight embrace. Kissing Noah as he clung to her neck, she added, "I swear, all the men on this boat have the worst mouths."

Dana made a mental note to throttle Sally later.

"How do we make up the teams?" Merry asked to the group at large, rocking on his heels and quite excited by the prospect of learning a new game.

"Well," Miss Kaylee replied as she went to stand by the tall sixteen-year-old, "First, we pick two team cap'ns, then they choose up the sides."

"OOO!" Ace squealed, seizing Dana's big arm and waving it about in the air, "Mouse wants to be a captain!"

"I do?" The brunette questioned, staring quizzically up at the large metal ring suspended down from the high ceiling.

"Of course you do, silly!" Ace mocked, blindly receiving a pass from Jan and stuffing the ball roughly into her older brother's hands, "Being in charge is what you're best at!"

Dana reluctantly accepted the position.

"Jayne can take over the other post," Mal declared good-naturedly, "Since it is his game and mostly his kids, after all."

With a broad grin, the merc stated, "Cap'n a' the cap'n? I could get used to that."

Glaring pointedly, Mal replied, "Don't." He looked straight to Dana, ordering, "Pick me first."

"Yes, sir," Dana dutifully answered. Mal spared the other team captain a smug smirk before strolling across the bay to stand beside the young man.

Rolling his eyes, Jayne quickly countered, "Alright, I got Kelly."

"PAPA!!!" Little Melody shrieked at the top of her lungs, immediately making the bay full of people wince; she was _quite _shrill. "You're sposta pick _me_ first!!" The girl crowed, completely shocked and seething with anger as she stomped her tiny little feet.

"Aw, I'm sorry, baby doll," Jayne replied, desperate to stave off the inevitable tears and temper tantrum, "I'll pick you next. Promise."

The girl didn't cry; she settled for hatefully glaring at her new half-brother, who was grinning and twitching excitedly.

While everyone else was momentarily distracted, the captain hissed into Dana's ear, "Pick Wash." Dana's gaze cut to the little redheaded man in the wheelchair as Mal continued, "He's a great shot."

Nodding, Dana declared, "I got Wash."

The pilot grinned, evidently pleased with getting picked and with the fact that his young protégé had gotten much better about not referring to him as "Mr. Wash." And all he had to do was threaten to call the boy Mouse! The redhead popped his chair into a skillful wheelie and spun across the bay floor, laughing, "Can our team be called _the Raptors_? That is an _awesome_ team name!"

Chuckling, Dana replied, "Sure. Sounds good."

"You wanna pick our name, Kelly?" Jayne offered as he beckoned Melody over to his side. He was trying hard to get back into the boy's good graces, to make up for yelling at him that morning. The merc barely noticed his daughter's heated sulk or the jealous glare she was sending Kelly's way.

"Ok!" The boy chirped, thinking hard, "Um... how about _the Gorillas_? They're shiny animals! Hunter showed me a picture of some once on the cortex and they look like they'd be really good at hoopball!"

Sulking quite openly at her father's side, Melody complained, "I don't like that name. It's dumb."

"Now, baby doll," Jayne gently scolded, lifting the girl and situating her on one of his broad shoulders, "Be nice. It's a fine name and this is Kelly's game so he gets to pick." Unable to see the furious glare that twisted the girl's sweet little face, Jayne then turned to Dana and stated, "Your turn again. Pick a couple a' the littler kids so's the teams stay even."

Nodding, Dana happily chose, "Murph."

The angelic blonde skipped to her brother's side and latched onto his thick waist, whispering, "Can you pick Gabe next? I wanna be on his team."

With a crooked smirk and a big one-armed hug, the teen replied, "Sure, little one. Anything you want." Unlike Sally, Dana didn't have much of a problem with their baby sister's puppy love; it was kind of cute and he didn't see the harm. Besides, he didn't particularly care to be on the receiving end of the wrath of _any_ of his sisters. They were gorram scary sometimes.

"Ace," Jayne countered, giving the wary girl a friendly smile as she moved to stand with the rest of _the Gorillas_.

"Gabe," Dana replied, watching fondly as the boy with the creamy dark skin and matted mop of red-blonde curls ran over and began gabbing happily with Murphy.

"Merry," Jayne answered. As the lanky brunette trooped over, his father finally noticed the absence of the other half of the duo and asked him, "Where's Frankie? Ain't she gonna play?"

"Nah," Merry said, tugging Kelly into a playful headlock, "She said her nose hurts. I think it's mostly just because Miss Inara offered to do her hair and... uh... other strange girly stuff. I sort of tuned out after the hair bit..." The teen looked around and asked, "Where's Miss River?"

"She ain't allowed to play," Jayne declared a bit sorely, "She cheats."

Raising one dark eyebrow, Merry barely contained his amusement as he questioned, "How can she cheat at a game that has no rules?"

Stone-faced, Jayne answered, "Usin' that devil's math a' hers. It's a' unfair advantage."

"Husband is a terrible loser," River's sweet, teasing voice sang out overhead. The assorted crew caught a brief glimpse of her retreating form as she called, "Going to help gestational female arrange keratin atop the half deuce. Play nice, children."

After a brief pause for everyone to decipher the cryptic remark, Dana continued, "Uh... I'll take Miss Kaylee."

The sunny redhead galloped over and stood on her tiptoes to pinch the teen's rapidly flushing cheeks.

"Jan," Jayne countered, regretting his choice the moment he noticed that the boy had been acting as a buffer between Simon and Hunter; the doctor was still bugging the girl and the girl was still just _barely_ tolerating him. If it hadn't been his own daughter getting harassed, Jayne would've already started taking bets about how much longer she'd last before socking his brother-in-law right in that smug, core-bred face.

Dana noticed as well and sent the merc an impatient glare before quickly rectifying the situation by choosing, "Hunter."

She bolted off to her brother and Jayne immediately provided him aid, calling, "Doc, you're over here."

Watching Simon sulk was a reward all to itself.

Dana felt a tug on his shirt and turned to see Miss Kaylee's brilliant smile. "Could you pick Noah?" She requested sweetly, "He likes bein' on my team when we play."

Despite the fact that the young man would prefer to never again be near any of the demonic Tam children, it was looking like he was going to be stuck with some of them. And, besides, Miss Kaylee was just about the nicest woman ever; he couldn't deny her anything.

"Alright," The brunette stated, "I got Noah."

Noah happily skipped up to his mama and jumped into her arms, cuddling contentedly. Try as he might, Dana couldn't help being a tiny bit jealous of the russet-haired six-year-old...

"Zoe," Jayne countered, seeming equally not thrilled about the prospect of getting too many of his little nephews on his side.

"Bye, Lambie-Toes!" Wash called, a little too enthusiastic to be serious, "Now that you're the enemy, there is to be absolutely _no_ fraternization! I mean it! Don't even _try_ using your womanly wiles to seduce _Raptor_ secrets from me! I will hold up to all sexual torture so do your worst!!"

Dark face still placid as ever, the warrior woman's eyes were filled with unusual mirth as she coolly replied, "You're goin' down, dear."

Funnily enough, Gabe didn't seem at all bothered or embarrassed by his parents' unique word play. In fact, he was laughing and rolling his eyes; he was used to it.

With a choice between Lukas and Ben, Dana found himself at an impasse. He would have to take one of them but he had no idea which. They were both _pure evil_.

The Mouse still had not gotten over being hogtied with pink jump ropes and never really would. It was a traumatic moment in his life.

"Um..." He stalled, finally deciding, "Ben, I guess." Lukas seemed to be mostly the brains of the operation so, Dana reasoned, it would make the most sense to get him on his own. There was less of a chance he and his brothers would cook up yet another scheme designed to humiliate and injure the teen.

"Alright," Jayne agreed, "Get on over here, Lukas. Dana, you picked first so we start out with the ball. Other'n that, anything aside from foulin' those under four feet goes. Ready?"

"Yup," Murphy chirped, laughing happily as Gabe chased her in circles around her big brother. Dana was so busy watching the pair that he barely noticed Mal take the ball from his hands and bounce it across the bay to Kelly.

"Game on," The captain declared.

xxXxx

"You have beautiful hair, Frankie," Inara beamed as she gently drew her brush through the sheet of deep, earthy chestnut gliding between her fingers.

"Thank you," The girl answered, smiling serenely as she hugged her slim knees up to her chest, closing her honey-brown eyes and deeply breathing the heavy scent of the incense in the shuttle, "I like yours, too. The curls are pretty. Mine doesn't curl at all."

With a light touch to gather an escaped lock, the former-Companion replied, "That may be, but it is thick and richly colored and amazingly healthy. Many women go to a great deal of trouble to have the kind of hair you have naturally."

A faint blush rose onto the sixteen-year-old's pale cheeks, her shapely lips twisting into a shy smile. "Thanks," She murmured.

"You are welcome, _bao bei_," Inara stated with a softly, "Now, do you have any preferences for how you would like your hair done?"

Shrugging, Frankie answered, "Not really. I've never had it in anything but a ponytail or a braid. That's all Mouse knows how to do."

"Dana does your hair for you?" The older woman asked, finding herself becoming more and more endeared to this little group of runaways. They were so loyal to each other and had so much heart.

"Sometimes," Frankie said, eyes still closed, "He's the only one really patient enough. None of the other boys will even try and Ace and Hunter just make a big tangle. Murphy doesn't know how. Mouse has always done her hair for her since before she can remember."

"That's sweet," Inara beamed, skilled hands deftly and elegantly piecing and twisting sections of the girl's long mane, "He seems like a wonderful brother."

Nodding imperceptibly so as not to disturb the former-Companion's progress, Frankie agreed, "He is. The best." After a brief beat, she added, "Not that the others aren't great, too. I love all my brothers and sisters. It's just... Mouse is always looking after us. More than he looks after himself sometimes. He tries like crazy to protect us and keep us together."

"Yes, I noticed that," Inara said, acknowledging River with a brief glance as the young witch floated soundlessly into the room and took a seat on the floor across from her stepdaughter.

"Abandoned," River whispered, voice infinitely sad.

Frankie opened her eyes and nearly started when she saw the woman; she hadn't heard River come in.

"Remembers what it's like to not be wanted," The dark-haired assassin continued, locking gazes with Frankie, taking the teen's slim hands in her own, "Remembers waving goodbye. She didn't even look back. Never wants you to feel like he does. Wants you to know you are loved, that you always have someone to come back for you."

Tears immediately sprung into Frankie's honey-brown eyes, the girl sniffling them back with a bruised nose.

"Frankie?" Inara soothed, putting down her brush and her ribbons and gently brushing a thumb against the girl's cheek, "What is it?"

"She's right," Frankie answered, voice shaking as she tried to keep from crying, "I didn't think about it but Miss River's right about Dana."

Confused, she pressed, "What do you mean?"

"He didn't end up on Bastille like the rest of us did," Frankie explained, squeezing River's hand and not breaking their gaze, "He wasn't taken. His mama just gave him up. She left him outside a fed station the first day the Act went into effect. He was seven. I-I never even thought about it but it makes sense... oh, Mouse..."

One hand instinctively smoothing over heavy bulge of her stomach, Inara could suddenly feel tears coming to her own eyes as well. "That's awful," She said, unable to make her voice go above a tentative whisper, almost as if she didn't want her unborn child to overhear such an atrocity. The dark-haired beauty would die before she'd do anything like it.

"Fate," River responded, gaze far off, "Brought him where he was needed. Brought him to his family."

Silence fell over the shuttle.

xxXxx

Sally woke up refreshed, if a little stiff, and decided that it was time to climb down from his hiding place. Even if he was caught, he'd had a good nap and wouldn't mind all that much seeing as how he never really got into those kinds of games. Hide-and-go-seek was just too... silly.

Squirming until he could easily reach the exit to the narrow compartment, Sally grabbed hold of the grate and tried to push it out.

It wouldn't budge.

Sally's eyes went wide and he tried again to shake loose the square of metal.

Still nothing.

"_Ni ta ma de_._ Tian-xia suo-you-de ren_._ Dou gai-si_," He groaned, knowing in an instant that Lukas, Ben, and Noah locked him in somehow. The black-haired teen should have known better, really. He should have known those three boys were demon spawn and he shouldn't trust a gorram word that came out of their evil little mouths.

Beginning a furious tirade of banging and screaming and cussing, Sally had little hope that he would free himself or be rescued or released any time soon. The grate was pretty firmly in place and he didn't want to break anything; no one seemed within earshot and his deep, bellowing voice was drowned out over the steady hum of the engine.

He had several hours in which to plot his revenge.

xxXxx

"I'M OPEN!! I'M OPEN!!" Kelly screamed, waving wildly as he jumped about in chaotic circles at the edge of the play. He had a great big grin on his face and was quite obviously enjoying himself. Like the rest of the crowded throng of players, he was breathing had and dripping with sweat.

"Alright!" Jayne laughed, dribbling and defending the ball with his massive back as Dana tried to steal it, "Heads up, Kel!" He lobbed the ball across to the blonde, smiling as the boy caught it and ducked out from under the captain's attempted grab. The amusement quickly turned once again to pride and awe as Kelly ran towards his big sister Ace and shouted, "Gimme an up!"

The leggy blonde held out her intertwined hands just in time for Kelly to step into them. Between the force of his running push off and the toss she gave, Ace managed to send the boy pretty gorram high up off the ground, up to the perfect height for him to rocket the ball through the hoop and tie the game.

"YES!" Kelly cried, pumping a scrawny arm over his head as he fell back towards the floor. Merry caught him before he could hit, laughing uproariously as he slung his brother over his strong shoulder and did a cheering victory lap of the bay. "All hail Kelly Green, the flying gorilla!" He proclaimed, making sure to spin in such a way that made Kelly's flailing feet "accidentally" hit Dana and the captain. Lukas and Jan ran after them, whooping and applauding. Melody was sulking quite openly, glaring at the procession.

"Ya, ya," Mal grumbled, trying and failing to hide the good-natured smile on his weather-beaten face, "It was a mighty fine move. Now, how 'bout we go into sudden death for the win? I don't know about ya'll, but I'm starvin' and we should start cookin' lunch if we wanna get to eat it before dinner time."

"I second the 'Sustenance Soon' motion," Wash proclaimed, flushed and grinning as he watched his son attempting to impress sweet little Murphy with a trick the boy had just recently mastered: balancing the spinning ball on the tip of his finger. The angelic blonde seemed absolutely taken with the feat.

"Sure," Jayne agreed, mopping his glistening forehead with the shirt he'd long ago shed, "Losers get to cook 'n clean."

"What'll you be making?" Dana challenged, plucking the ball off of Gabe's finger and sending a mocking glance across the bay.

Smirking, his father answered, "Seem awful sure a' yourself there. Care to make it a little more interestin'?"

"What did you have in mind?" Dana responded, smirking widely.

"Losin' cap'n cooks wearin' Kaylee's frilly apron," Jayne suggested, sounding almost impish.

Standing at his side, Ace gave a loud laugh. "I would _so_ like to see that!" She beamed, "Mouse looks best in frills!"

Frowning, Kaylee whined, "Why're you always tryin' to make people wear my apron for losin' bets? Ain't nothin' wrong with it!"

Ignoring the commentary and objection, Dana narrowed his eyes and accepted, "You're on."

The teams went into huddles.

Jayne's strategy: Don't let Wash get a shot off. The little man had been killing them all morning with his never-miss touch.

Dana's strategy: Get Wash the ball and clear a shot. The pilot was gorram amazing.

When the huddles broke, the teams faced off, Dana dribbling as he motioned the others to different areas of the playing field. Jayne was guarding him closely.

The father and son locked gazes, a clear challenge issued.

And then Dana faked right and spun left, leaving the old man in the dust before quickly bouncing the ball to Hunter.

She was not thrilled that the doctor had been guarding her closely all game and the redhead used the opportunity to charge her shoulder straight into his gut. Smirking and quite pleased, Hunter made a point of stepping on him as she ran and then seamlessly handed the ball off to Kaylee.

The sunny mechanic laughed as she dribbled a few times, calling, "Noah, sweetheart! Get ready! I'm gonna pass you the ball!"

"Ok, Mama!" The boy replied, grinning widely. He accepted the light toss with no interference. The other players had been taking it easy on little Noah since he didn't seem to entirely grasp the concept of intense, take-no-prisoners competition.

"Share with your brother, baby," Kaylee reminded as the giggling redhead dribbled in place.

With a dutiful nod, Noah lobbed the ball to Ben. The brunette triplet looked very serious as he sprinted off with the projectile, doing his best to keep up with the dribbling as he ran at the captain and then wordlessly handed it over.

Mal seemed vaguely amused by the whole procession, going head-to-head with Merry for a moment or two before finally getting the ball into Wash's very capable hands.

Taking a brief moment to aim at the hoop, the little man let the ball fly.

And it was stuffed right back in his freckled face by his exceedingly tall wife.

"Lambie-_toes_," He hissed sarcastically, "You're embarrassing me in front of my men!"

"Sorry, dear," Zoe chuckled, already moving back into game play as Lukas quickly scooped the ball up from the ground and snapped it in Jan's direction. It went from his hands to Ace's and she immediately found herself double-teamed by Dana and Mal.

Since Melody was the only one Ace had a clear pass to, she bounced the ball into the little girl's grasp.

Dark eyes scanning the bay as she stood in place, Melody frowned at the chaotic play going on all around her.

"I'M OPEN!!" Kelly shrieked, because he was always open because no one could quite keep up with the hyperactive boy; he wouldn't stand still even for a second, "I'M OPEN, MEL!! OVER HERE!!"

She glared hatefully at him and then tried with all her might to take the shot herself. Her little arms couldn't make the distance and the ball fell several feet short of its intended target, right into Murphy's hands.

"Heads up!" The blonde ordered, feinting out of Lukas' guard and giving a bounce pass to Gabe. He grinned and got the ball right back to his dad.

Wash shot again and this time, despite his wife's interference, the ball sailed through the hoop for the win.

"VICTORY!!!" The pilot cried, grabbing Gabe and Murphy and putting them both in his lap as he wheeled in cheering circles all around the bay. Noah, Ben, and Hunter followed, creating an impromptu parade to celebrate _the Raptors_' triumph.

Grinning as Kaylee fondly ruffled his close-cropped brown hair, Dana smiled at his father and teased, "What's for lunch?"

xxXxx

"I can't find Sally _anywhere_!" Dana complained as he came stomping into the kitchen and flopped down into a chair, "And Miss Inara and Miss River said they'd be done with whatever they're doing to Frankie in a few minutes."

"Alright," Jayne grumbled, stirring a big pot of protein mush and not at all happy about the frilly pink monstrosity tied around his waist, "They should get here just as it's finishin'. As fer Sally, I guess if he wants to stay hid, he don't get to eat."

Pulling Murphy into his lap, Dana replied, "He's probably still upset over smacking the twins. I'm sure he'll come out soon."

"We told him we were alright," Merry defended, face marred by raccoonish bruising around both honey-brown eyes, "It was just an accident."

No one noticed the devious smirks passing between the Tam triplets.

"Checkmate," Hunter yawned, seeming quite bored of the chess game _Serenity_'s pilot had roped her into; it was the third time she'd beaten the little man in the last half hour alone.

Forehead creased by a perplexed frown, Wash muttered, "I really should know better by now than to play these sorts of games with freaky geniuses."

"Should," River airily breathed as she came twirling into the room with a big smile on her pretty face, "But don't." After taking a moment to simply beam at the room at large--and especially at her husband, the mercenary in pink frills--the witch very importantly proclaimed, "She presents Miss Frances Lin Freely."

Frankie appeared, smiling shyly as her brothers' and sisters' mouths dropped. With her rich brown hair curled and pinned elegantly atop her head, the girl's long, graceful neck was bare all the way down to her collarbones, which were exposed by the long red sink gown she wore. The clingy garment was held up on her slim body by only a pair of flimsy straps. Her face was made-up, not heavily but enough to make her thick-lashed honey-brown eyes practically glow, enough to make her look much older than just sixteen.

"Holy crap," Merry gasped, as always the first to speak, "How much did I tune out for?"

"Do you like it?" Frankie asked self-consciously, smoothing the luxuriant fabric down her flat stomach, "Miss Inara was just going to do my hair, but then she said she thought I was the same size as her-"

"The same size I _was_," The former-Companion corrected as she appeared behind her creation, glaring at Mal and rubbing her swollen belly.

Giggling, Frankie continued, "Ya, and, well..." She gestured at herself, "This is what happened!" Holding out one long leg topped by a pair of high, strappy sandals, the girl beamed, "Miss River even painted my toenails!"

"You sure do look purty," Jayne complimented, crossing near his daughter to drop a chaste kiss on her forehead as he moved to set lunch on the table, "All grown 'n such. Just don't expect to be let off the ship like that."

"Ya," Dana agreed, taking a brief moment to snap himself out of the immense shock he was in, "You're beautiful, Frank, but you'd better not let Sally see. His head's liable to explode."

Frankie blushed, a happy, carefree smile on her lovely face.

"Frankie looks like a girl," Kelly whispered to Jan, his hazel eyes wide.

"That's because she_ is_ a girl," Jan replied, clipping his brother playfully upside the head.

Wearing a huge grin, Merry bounced over to his twin and swept into a downright courtly bow, offering his hand as he asked, "May I have this dance?"

"Of course," Frankie replied, comfortably allowing herself to be swept into a twirling, elegant waltz. It was quite a graceful sight to watch, especially when the pair began getting into the trickier moves--spins and dips and such. River was absolutely elated, bouncing on her tip-toes as she smiled and clapped.

"Impressive," The doctor complimented, helping the rest of his team set the table and lay out lunch, "Did the Alliance actually teach you to waltz? That seems a bit... excessively civilized of them."

"No way," Merry chirped, laughing breathlessly and not halting the fast pace he'd set, "We got punished every time the caught us. It wasn't the sort of thing they wanted to encourage in their next generations of soldiers."

"Our mama was a dancer," Frankie explained, smile bright and brilliant, "She drilled this kind of stuff into us and it just stuck." Smirking at her brother, the girl suggested, "How about a tango?"

The other twin changed the tempo and rhythm, twirling and dipping his sister with a theatrical flourish. Grinning, the boy chirped, "Still got it."

"Not that all this ain't fascinatin'," Mal interrupted, stuffing a napkin in his unbuttoned shirt collar, "But can we eat now?"

"Soon as the chess gets put away," Kaylee stated, staring significantly at Wash and Hunter.

"Sure," The girl responded, already packing up the game board and stowing it into a cupboard, "It's kind of boring anyways. I like cards better."

Looking like Christmas had come early, Jayne inquired, "You play cards?"

"Ya," Hunter answered, hardly flinching as the twins wandered back to the table and Merry gave her hair a tousle. The girl blew the ginger strands out of her cornflower eyes, continuing, "Ace taught us all kinds of card games. She's the best. She used to even beat all the soldiers."

Jayne shifted his gaze to his eldest daughter, smiling hopefully and trying not to look too ridiculous--though it was hard to do anything and not look ridiculous wearing Kaylee's apron--as he offered, "If you'd like, we could get a game goin' after lunch."

Seeming a little reluctant, the tall blonde took her seat at the table and answered, "Um... ok... I guess..." She had still not warmed up to her father, not even in the least bit.

"It'll be fun," Dana comforted, slinging an arm around the girl's shoulders when he sensed her uncertainty, "Wiping the floor with all challengers always gets you in a good mood."

Openly pleased, Jayne finished setting lunch out as he chuckled, "You sound like a regular shark. I'm a fair hand myself."

"I know," Ace coolly replied, face placid and ice blue eyes narrowed on her father, "You won my ma in a card game."

Complete silence fell over the room...

Ace glared at Jayne and Jayne tried not to squirm...

The silence stretched on...

The other inhabitants fidgeted uncomfortably...

Kaylee thought she heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the engine room but dismissed it as figment of her imagination, an excuse to get out of the awkward situation at hand...

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Mal stood and loudly cleared his throat. When he succeeded in gathering of the attention of all those who weren't excessively fertile mercenaries or their pissed off daughters, the good captain dropped to one knee beside Inara's chair.

She groaned.

"'Nara," Mal stated, digging the ring box out of his pocket and presenting it to her for the ninety-sixth time, "Would you please do me the honor of becomin' my wife?"

"_Now_?" The dark-haired beauty snapped impatiently, "You want to ask me _now_?"

"Seemed like as good a time as any," The captain defended, pouting just a bit. The look was surprisingly becoming on a man of his age.

Inara glared, hissing, "This is _hardly_ appropriate!"

"I'm tryin' to help!" Mal crowed, gesturing wildly towards the other end of the table, "Distracted everyone from Jayne's drama, didn't I?"

With an eye roll, the pregnant woman mockingly answered, "Oh, yes. You did such a wonderful job. And every little girl _dreams_ about getting a marriage proposal that doubles as a distraction in an awkward situation."

"Well I've tried just about every other kind!!" The browncoat insisted, shoving the still unopened ring box into Inara's not-very-pleased face, "All that's left is to ask while doin' a handstand, and I don't got that kinda balance, woman! There's enough weaves in my head as it is!"

Dark eyes spitting fire, Inara glared until the father of her child got the hint.

(The hint was hinting at yet another big fat "No")

"Fine," Mal huffed, stuffing the ring box back into his pocket and regaining his seat at the table, "Don't marry me. See if I care." After a brief pause, he added, "I ain't gonna be in charge of explainin' to the kid why he's a bastard. I'll leave that all up to you, darlin'."

Yet more silence fell. It was twice as awkward as the first.

Gradually, the people around the table began tentatively reaching for their lunches, serving out portions and passing around dishes without once breaking the excruciating quiet.

xxXxx

Mentally assembling and disassembling various firearms was a decent way to pass time.

Sally had always thought so and had often used the technique to keep from getting bored in otherwise boring situations: morning roll call, academic lessons, or just when someone especially stupid found the need to talk to him.

However, being locked inside a smuggling compartment by a set of depraved triplets seemed to interfere with the method's effectiveness. The seventeen-year-old had no way to keep time but he figured that he had to have been in there for at least five hours, going on six. His stomach was growling--giving his breakfast to Mouse was turning out to have been not such a good idea--and his neck was getting a cramp and he was going out of his gorram mind.

When he finally got out of there, he was going to hunt down the Tam triplets and he was going to beat them at their own sadistic little game.

Because _no one_ messed with a Damiani and got away with it.

Sally remembered his mamma telling him that once.

She was dead but the lesson lived on.

Lukas, Noah, and Benjamin were going to pay.

xxXxx

"This is getting ridiculous," Dana grumbled, searching high and low for his brother, still finding no signs of him. It was getting on towards dinnertime.

He was starting to worry.

It wasn't like Sally to go so long without demanding a meal so, unless the black-haired giant had found his way into the ship's stores, something was definitely off. As much as Dana would have liked to be hanging out on the bridge or perhaps even participating in the poker game that was going on in the bay--it started out very awkward but was starting to get better when he left--he was instead roaming the hallways, looking anywhere and everywhere for his brother.

"Sally!" Dana called, knocking on the hatches of the bunks, just in case he'd wandered into one of them for some odd reason. Several were empty, he'd learned, so it was a possibility. "Salvatore!!" The young man snapped, "This has gone far beyond your usual sulking! Come out now or I'm going to beat you when I find you!"

"MOUSE!!" He heard, screamed from the direction of the engine room. Dana knew that it was Sally; the seventeen-year-old sounded extremely distressed and his older brother was running in his direction in an instant.

"MOUSE!!" Sally continued to bellow, his deep voice now joined by some metallic banging and rattling, like he was punching the insides of the walls, "MOUSE!! HELP ME!!"

"Where are you?" Dana countered, finally arriving in the engine room at the end of the long corridor and bursting into the engine room. He spun a full circle before finally noticing the thick fingers poking out of a metal grate just above the inside of the doorway.

"Up here!" His brother answered, relieved yet pissed, "Those three psychos locked me in!"

Trying desperately not to break into hysterical laughter, Dana observed, "They didn't lock you. They bolted you..." He lost his battle, grabbing his sides and leaning heavily against one of the walls as he cackled, "What were you even doing up there, Sal?"

"They tricked me, alright!" The caged boy shouted, angry blue eyes just barely visible between the metal slats, "They said that the captain said that everybody had to play hide-and-seek to tire Kelly out and I just wanted a gorram nap!! Would you get me down already? I've been up here for like six hours and I've really gotta piss!!"

Busting out with yet another wave of frantic giggles, Dana just about pissed his own pants. He had to go down on one knee to keep from fainting as the uproarious laughter just kept bubbling up from deep within his broad chest.

"I'm serious, Mouse!!" Sally complained, obviously ten times grouchier than usual, "Get me down!!"

"Alright, alright," Dana chuckled, searching for and locating a power drill, as well as a small crate to stand on. He was just about to begin the task of unscrewing the grate, when a sudden flash of genius came to him.

Grinning through the gaps in the metal, Dana asked, "How do you feel about revenge?"

"I'm a fan," Sally replied, significantly more upbeat, if a big unhinged, "What did you have in mind?"

xxXxx

The Tam triplets were bored and doing what they always did when they were bored: very bad things. That day, the boys had gotten into their parents soaps and such and were busy swapping the contents of their father's hair-growth tonic for that of his body wash. According to Lukas' theory, the action would result in the doctor eventually washing all over with the tonic and then growing hair on every inch of his skin.

Noah was sort of excited to see that. He was envisioning a big fuzzy yeti situation.

Ben felt the inevitable full-body wax would be the best part.

Lukas was interested for purely scientific reasons, like how many doses of hair-growth tonic it would take to grow their daddy a head-to-toe sweater, how much it would itch, and if it would keep him warmer when they landed on frozen worlds.

Acting as lookout, Ben was standing in the doorway. When he saw Dana coming down the hallway, the brunette hissed, "Got company! Hide it!"

The three were sitting innocently on their parents' bed when Dana finally arrived.

Glancing around anxiously, the tall teen ran his fingers through his close-cropped brown hair and asked the boys, "Have you seen Sally?"

With straight faces borne out of years and years of mischief--six, to be exact--the triplets shook their heads.

"I'm really starting to worry," Dana told them, fidgeting with a pill container in his other fist, "Wherever he's at, he doesn't have his medicine."

"What medicine?" Ben demanded skeptically.

"For his heart," Dana answered, expression sad as he stared down at the bottle, "The virus he had damaged it. He can't go more than a few hours without taking his pills and I just found them in his bedroll." Looking close to tears, the teen glanced back at the triplets and begged, "Could you guys please help me find him? I mean, you know the ship a lot better, all the places he might be hiding."

The boys exchanged nervous glances. "Did you... um..." Lukas began, starting to feel guilty, "Did you check the engine room?"

"Ya," Noah contributed, blue eyes wide with panic. He didn't want to hurt anybody, "There's a compartment over the door we showed him the other day... it sticks sometimes."

"Right," Dana answered, turning on his heels and breaking into a frantic run, "Thanks!"

He didn't even have to look behind himself to know that the triplets were following.

Arriving in the engine room, Dana spun in a quick circle, calling, "Sally! Are you in here?" He saw the grate above the door and dragged a crate under it, standing on the structure so he could get a better look through the metal slats. "SALLY!!" The young man cried, suddenly rattling the grate, trying hard to yank it off, "Are you alright? Answer me, Sal!!"

"Try this," Lukas stated, offering up the power drill and not doing a very good job of hiding his worry.

"Thanks," Dana replied without a glance, quickly taking off all the bolts and throwing the grate to the floor. He reached inside the dark compartment and grunted as he dragged his brother out.

Falling rather roughly to the floor under the limp weight of the larger boy, Dana was screaming, "Sally? Oh, come on, Sal, don't do this to me! Open your eyes!" He gave the behemoth a rough shake or two before searching for a pulse in Sally's neck.

"He's not breathing," Dana declared, frightened out of his mind and immediately beginning chest compressions. After a brief moment, he quite theatrically fought back a sob and looked over at the terrified, speechless Tam triplets. "Go get your dad!!" Dana ordered. When they stood frozen in place, the teen screamed, "NOW!!"

The three boys bashed into each other hard in their haste to turn and run, slipping and tripping repeatedly as they scampered off down the hallway and out of sight.

As soon as he saw the triplets disappear around a corner, Dana halted his lifesaving efforts and busted out laughing.

Sally was quick to reanimate and follow his brother's example. "We are bad, _bad_ men," The seventeen-year-old declared, grinning quite sadistically.

Chuckling, wiping hysterical tears out of the corners of his baby blues, Dana offered a hand up to the former corpse and responded, "We are indeed. Hopefully this teaches those three demons a lesson they'll never forget."

"Oh, this is only the beginning," Sally answered, smirking evilly, "I had a lot of time to think about it, and I'm ready to wage war."

"If you say so," Dana told him, clapping the taller boy roughly on the back, "No property damage or the captain will space us. And try not to hurt them too badly. They're six, after all."

"Ya, ya, whatever," His brother answered, pushing the hand off and strolling quickly out of the engine room, "Now, I really gotta piss."

xxXxx

All activity in the bay stopped dead for a few moments when the triplets suddenly came barreling onto the catwalks and down the stairs. Mal had just barely looked up from his hand of cards to yell at the boys not to run when all three tripped and went crashing down the stairs in a great heap.

Kaylee leapt up from the floor where she was painting Murphy's little toenails and rushed to her sons' aid.

But the boys jumped right back up, groaning and a little slower but quite obviously determined. Unintelligibly jabbering a mile a minute, they ran straight for their father's seat at the poker game. Ben and Lukas each grabbed the doctor by a wrist, Noah shouting and looking like he might cry as they dragged the man away. Jayne just barely had the presence of mind to snatch the cards out of his confused brother-in-law's hand.

After another moment, they were gone back up the way they came, their shouting echoing through the ship.

Everyone paused for another beat.

"Huh," Merry observed, continuing to hold Frankie, who was still all dolled-up, in an elegant dip. The two had been dancing to some quiet music Wash piped into the bay for them; their new step-mother had really been getting a kick out of the graceful pair, watching from a precarious perch atop a tall stack of crates. "That was..." The teen began, seeming to be searching to the appropriate words, "That was really odd."

"You think they're alright?" Kaylee asked, looking rather anxious.

"I'm sure they're fine," Zoe distractedly replied, tossing another chore-slip into the pile in the center of the large slat of metal plating that was doubling as a poker table big enough to hold the entire party. Most of _Serenity_ was involved in the game, Mal, Wash, Zoe, Jayne, formerly Simon. Ace was in on it, as was Hunter, Jan, and Gabe, who was sitting in his father's lap. They were supposedly playing as a team but the eight-year-old was mostly just staring across the bay at Murphy while she got her toes painted.

Kelly had been playing, until he fell asleep in his pile of chore-slips and Ace tucked him into his bedroll.

Melody was sitting beside Murphy, glaring quite openly and sulking over the fact that the blonde got to go first to get her nails painted. Auntie Kaylee always painted _Melody's _nails first.

Inara was lying down in her shuttle, having professed that she had reached her Mal-tolerance for the day, as well as the fact that the man's spawn was once again using her insides as a punching bag.

"Completely," Wash agreed, trying very hard and failing to maintain any semblance of a decent poker face, "The scamps probably just injured someone greatly and need Simon to put him back together." He grinned across at Kaylee, "Don't worry so much."

Jayne rolled his eyes, watching Ace's expression carefully for any sort of tell. Aside from the fact that she was majorly pissed at him, he couldn't seem to read anything from girl at all. That didn't ever happen to the merc. Poker was his game and he was good at because he could see people's hands in their faces.

Without flinching or blinking, Ace wordlessly raised a hefty handful of chore-slips, several of which read, "Dishes, wearing Kaylee's apron."

Gorramit. He shouldn't have brought up the apron. Now he was never going to live it down.

The rest of the table quickly folded. Not a one of them wanted anything to do with the frilly pink monstrosity.

But Jayne was a gambling man; he saw the bet and raised a septic vac, smugly thinking no one would ever call that bluff.

Only Ace did, seeing and raising an hour of babysitting the triplets.

It was only because of his mastery over his features that Jayne was able to keep his eyebrows from shooting up past his hairline. He watched his daughter's face carefully and saw absolutely nothing to give away what cards she had concealed behind her slim hands.

And, well, septic vac and cooking in Kaylee's apron were one thing, but babysitting the triplets was something entirely different. He wanted as little to do with his nephews as possible, lest he ended up the one hogtied next time.

"Fold," Jayne muttered, laying his cards facedown on the table.

Without so much as a grin, the girl wordlessly swept up her winnings. She was thoroughly thrashing the entire group but her father was taking the worst of it. Ace seemed to have a bit of a score to settle.

Another distraction presented itself in the form of Simon returning to the bay, laughing uproariously with Dana and Sally as the triplets trailed behind them, looked plainly stunned.

Mal was just opening his mouth to ask what was so funny when River suddenly stood up and screamed.

Jayne was at her side in an instant, catching her as she fell from the top of the crate she'd been sitting on. "What s'matter, baby doll?" The big man asked worriedly.

Dark eyes wide and wild, River stared up at him and whispered, "It broke."

"What did?" Mal demanded, concerned for his ship, already waving Kaylee towards the engine room.

The next scream came from the direction of the shuttle.

Whimpering, curling up tight in her husband's arms, River whispered, "The water."

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

pi-gu - butt

guay - hell

go-se - crap

fang-zong feng-kuang de jie - knot of self-indulgent lunacy

bao bei - sweetheart

ni ta ma de. tian-xia suo-you-de ren. dou gai-si - everyone under the heavens ought to die

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Dun dun _duuuun_. A nice long one for you to make up for the cliffhanger at the end. For all of you who didn't catch on, Inara's water just broke! We'll be meeting the little Mal-ling in the next chapter! I'm sooooo excited!

Reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated and highly encouraged. Who knows? Maybe an abundance of them will inspire me to drop out of college and pursue a career as a professional fanfic writer!! (it's unlikely, but you never can tell, hehe)


	7. Part 7: Questions and Answers

Part 7 - Questions and Answers

"Mouse?" Murphy asked quietly, yawning as she cuddled into her big brother's warm embrace. It was far past the little blonde's bedtime but she couldn't get to sleep, not with the sounds of Miss Inara's screams and curses filling _Serenity_ from hull to stern.

"Ya, little one?" Dana replied, yawning himself as he reclined lazily against a crate of fireworks, trying hard to keep his eyes open and on the rest of his siblings. He didn't trust them to be entirely without supervision for any long periods of time and, with all the adults either looking after Miss Inara or trying to get the other kids to bed, that's what was going to happen if the burly teen let himself fall asleep.

As it was, he'd already had to pull Hunter off of Jan and then Jan off of Hunter, then stop the pair from coloring all over Kelly, who was, thank the powers, finally exhausted and out cold--hoopball had turned out to be a resounding success in depleting his freakishly excessive energy stores. Dana also vetoed several of the more sadistic revenge fantasies Sally had in mind for the Tam triplets but, from the look on the black-haired behemoth's face, he was quickly amassing more in the same vein. Ace was just in a generally foul mood, sitting in a corner and ranting quietly to herself about their father.

Merry and Frankie were blessedly behaving, sprawled in the center of their combined bedrolls as they poured over a stack of baby name books. When she was doing the girl's hair, Miss Inara had casually mentioned that she did not yet have a definite name for her child picked out; she thought she'd had another week or two left to decide. When the former-Companion went into labor shortly after their late lunch, Frankie got it into her head that she would help the woman by coming up with some suggestions. Merry was quick to offer to aid his twin in her quest.

Squirming, growing slightly wide-eyed and amazed as a rather colorful string of Chinese profanities echoed through the bay, Murphy gazed up at her brother and innocently inquired, "Where do babies come from?"

Dana's mouth fell silently open and he just stared for what seemed like forever.

Finally, he called, "Ace?"

"What?" The seventeen-year-old grunted in reply.

"What's it called when a blood vessel pops inside your brain?" Dana questioned.

Ace frowned, "A ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Why?"

Swallowing hard, his mouth suddenly dry, the young man declared, "I think I just got one of those."

"_Bi zui_," The blonde grumbled impatiently, "You did not."

Pleading across the bay with his big baby blues, covering his confused baby sister's ears so she wouldn't overhear, Dana whimpered, "Murph wants to know where babies come from."

Ace stared for a few moments... and then busted out laughing. "You are the verse's biggest wimp!" She cackled.

"We agreed you'd tell her!" Dana hastily defended, keeping his hands over Murphy's ears even as the girl began to squirm impatiently, "Remember? Me or Sally tell the boys, you tell the girls! That was the _deal_!"

"Which you haven't held up," Ace reminded mockingly, "I told the girls _and _Merry _and _Jan. _And_ I'll probably end up telling Kelly, too."

Frowning, turning bright red, Dana replied, "Ya... but... they all asked you first!"

"Well, Murphy asked you first," Ace teased, getting up from her seat and deftly straightening her loose plaid sleep pants and green tank top, "Have fun! I'm going to go see if Dr. Tam will let me help."

"Ace!" Dana begged desperately, "Wait! Come back! _Don't leave me_!!"

"_Mouse_," Murphy whined, finally growing frustrated and prying his big hands off of her ears. She turned and pouted at the young man.

His mouth stayed open in its wide gape, his mind working frantically for... anything to get him out of the conversation. "Um..." He stated, "Why don't you... go ask Frankie!"

After a brief glance over her shoulder at the brunette, who had her nose in a book, Murphy observed, "She's busy picking out names for Miss Inara. Why don't you want to tell me? Is it something bad?"

"Yes," Dana reflexively answered, quickly correcting himself, "Well, no, not _bad_, necessarily, just... um..." He stared down at Murphy's pretty face, at her sweet blonde curls and innocent bottle-blue eyes. "Not something you have to be worried about for a long, long time," The teen finally finished, kissing her forehead and praying to whosever god was listening that his baby sister would accept the answer.

But she was nothing if not stubborn, continuing to pout as she whined, "But I want to know now! And don't say the stork because that's what Sally told me and it's just stupid! Babies don't come from birds!"

Dana shot a fiery glare at his brother, fighting down the urge to get up and pummel the seventeen-year-old when he gave a mocking smirk and salute and then went straight back to his evil plans.

"Well... um..." Dana gaped, finally accepting that he really had no way out of this, "You see, when a man and a woman love each other very much... or when one of them is paying the other one, they do this... thing... and sometimes the thing puts a baby inside the woman and she carries it around for nine months until it gets big enough to be out on its own. Then it... comes out... and it's, like... _ta da?_..."

As the rest of the siblings laughed hysterically in the background, Murphy gave him a dissatisfied look, arching one slim eyebrow and clearly asking _is that the best you can do, Mouse?_

"Tell her about the cabbage patch, Mouse," Jan cackled sadistically from the other end of the bay, playing a fast-paced game of Crazy Eights with Hunter, "That's what you told me, right after you turned bright red and right before you sent me to go ask Ace and made me promise to never let her know I asked you first."

Hunter added a giggle of her own, commenting, "I don't know why you're all bent out of shape, Mouse. Sex is a biological function. It's perfectly natural."

Looking up suddenly from the scrap of paper he was scribbling his evil thoughts on, Sally frowned at the girl and snapped, "You are not allowed to say that. _Ever_. "

"And who's going to stop me?" Hunter challenged, "Besides, it's _not_ a big deal." She looked over to Murphy, blurting, "Babies come from sex. The guy puts his penis inside the girl's vagina and thrusts until he reaches orgasm and ejaculates. The sperm fertilizes the egg inside the woman's uterus and, nine months later, _voila_, she squeezes a baby out through her vagina." Glancing at Dana once more, the redhead brightly chirped, "There, happy?"

"NO!" Dana cried, once again slapping his hands over Murphy's innocent little ears, aware that he was far too late to prevent the damage just from the horrified look on her sweet face.

"Jeez, take a pill," Hunter flippantly ordered, slapping down another card as she and Jan continued their game without pause, "It's not like I told her anything she wouldn't have gotten from an educational data stream on the subject. And she's nine, not three... should I break the news about periods to her while I'm at it?"

Dana tried to begin an outraged tirade but he found that his throat was not cooperating with his desire to speak. He promptly gave up, letting his head fall backwards to smack rather ungently against the crate behind it. Closing his eyes, the teen calmly listened to the melodic strings of curses and threats still floating into the bay.

The sound of wheels against metal heralded the arrival of _Serenity_'s slightly eccentric redheaded pilot. Wash grinned over the side of the catwalk, swatting his freshly cleaned and pajamaed son off his lap as he called, "Protégé, would you like to help me check our course progress?"

"I'm... not sure that's such a good idea," Dana replied, warily eyeing his siblings. Gabe had sprinted down the stairs with handful of dinosaurs and was playing with Murphy, but Sally was glaring at the pair and already had a paper full of his evil thoughts written out for easy access. Jan and Hunter looked like they had already grown bored of Crazy Eights and had started a round of another card game formally known as Egyptian Rat Screw but more commonly called Slap. As its name suggests, it was not a game that had a reputation for ending well.

"Aw, go on, Dana, honey," Miss Kaylee beamed as she emerged from the passenger dorm area, herding her trio of monstrous sons along in front of her, "Nobody's gonna be gettin' to bed tonight so I figured it would be nice to fix up a bit of a sleepover here in the bay. River's makin' snacks, and Jayne's gonna set us up to project a movie soon as he manages to get Melody into some p.j.s We'll make sure everybody behaves." She looked pointedly in the direction of her three boys, who were glaring at Sally and whispering ominously amongst themselves.

Reluctant to leave but eager to all the same, Dana cautiously agreed, "Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt anything."

"Excellent!" Wash chirped, beckoning the boy towards him, "Onwards and upwards, my young fledgling! We are leaves on the wind!"

xxXxx

Melody Dixie Cobb was one of the sweetest little girls in the whole verse.

Usually.

That night, she was sulking, pouting and glaring and being uncooperative in general as Jayne tried to wrestle her into her favorite pair of bright pink footie pajamas. "Baby doll," The big merc whined, "You gotta help me out here or we're never gonna get you dressed. Don't you wanna go watch the movie with everybody else?"

"No," The girl huffed, folding her arms across her thin chest and shooting a venomous look at her father.

Jayne could have just screamed. It was bad enough Ace hated him and had made it a point to thrash him royally at poker, now Melody was in a snit as well. What was it with his daughters and being mad at him? Had he perpetrated some great crime against the female race?

Well, lately?

"What's gotten into you?" He pressed, holding his daughter firmly in place on the side of her bed and taking a knee so he could look her straight in the eye, "You mad at me 'bout somethin'?"

The girl shot him that infuriating _you're such a boob_ look she got from her mama.

It was one of the very few things the mercenary wished his daughter hadn't inherited.

"Alright," Jayne commented, scrubbing a broad hand down his face, "Dumb question... is it cuz 'a somethin' I did or cuz 'a somethin' I didn't do?"

Melody glared heatedly, finally snapping, "Both."

"Both," Jayne sighed, at a loss for any other words. After a brief beat, he beseeched, "You know I'm gonna do my best to make it up to you but you gotta tell me what it is you're mad about first or else I won't know how. Whadaya say, baby doll? Give your papa a chance?"

Melody pouted, her pert little mouth sealed up tight.

Once more, the big merc let out a helpless sigh. "Whenever you're ready," He told his daughter, getting back to his difficult task of wrestling her into her pajamas, "Ain't like I'm goin' nowhere."

xxXxx

"_Cao __ni__ zu-zong shi-ba dai_!!"

Mal winced, both from the swear and from the physical pain as Inara's grip constricted around his hand like an ornery, pregnant python.

"_Bu-yao-lian di dong-xi_!!"

She hadn't yet stopped screaming curse words at him. He was discovering that she knew some pretty gorram good ones.

"_Zheng qi de gou-shi dui_!!"

Not that Mal blamed her, of course. She was about to give birth to his child. He figured that got any woman a free pass to scream at him all she liked. He could have done without having every bone in his hand viciously broken though.

And the doctor wasn't exactly coming to his rescue, more concerned with doing fancified medical thingies and all the while speaking quietly to Ace, narrating his procedure to the aspiring young medic. Inara had been sweet as punch for exactly two seconds while giving the girl permission to stay and learn, and then it had been straight back to the she-beast who was breaking his hand and damning him to the innermost depths of the specialest of all the special hells.

"Inara, you're in the beginning stages of labor," Simon announced, standing up from beneath the sheet that was draped over the former-Companion's otherwise bare lower half, "Your contractions are infrequent and you're only about three centimeters dilated. Try to relax and save your strength because we might be here for awhile."

Mal whimpered, his knees buckling and sending him crashing to the floor as Inara dislocated one of his hand bones with a loud, meaty _POP_. The good captain opened his mouth--either to scream or sob, he hadn't yet decided which--but just one dangerous stare from the pregnant former-Companion made him think better of it. He kept quiet but was most definitely weeping on the inside.

It was going to be a long night.

xxXxx

"Can I ask you a question?" Dana mused, leaning back in the copilot's chair and staring out the front windshield at all the vasty nothingness.

"Shoot," Wash replied, lounging comfortably with his thick arms tucked behind his head.

Dana squirmed a bit, unsure of how to broach the subject that had been plaguing his young mind. "Well," The teen began, "Miss River... she knew that Miss Inara had gone into labor before Miss Inara even screamed..."

A quiet, expectant pause followed.

"Was that the question?" Wash joked awkwardly, "Because usually those include some sort of who, what, when, where, why, or how. Or at least an upward inflection at the end. That part's pretty universal. Linguistics is a fascinating subject."

Dana blinked. "Huh?"

"Ya," Wash agreed, feigning happiness, "Just like that. See, you've got it. Good job, protégé. I'm very proud. Now, would you mind informing Jayne that the movie's downloaded and ready to play as soon as he hooks up the projector?"

"Sure," Dana grumbled, a little put out at having his question diverted so... strangely. Still, the teen really liked Mr. Wash and wasn't about to let something like that get in the way of being taught to fly. He got up from his seat and set off in search of his father.

He found Jayne just as the big man was climbing out of his bunk, squirming five-year-old daughter tucked securely beneath one massive arm. "Hey," Dana called, jogging towards the pair, "Wash is ready with the movie whenever you're ready with the projector."

Jayne grumbled, looking stressed out and disgruntled with the world in general. The fact that his daughter was fighting him pretty hard and seemed less than thrilled with the man probably had something to do with the mood but Dana didn't say a thing.

"Alright," Jayne muttered gruffly, struggling to get a hold on Melody as the girl wriggled, "Here. Just take her to her mama. She ain't too happy with me right now."

As soon as her father attempted to hand her off to Dana, Melody began to resist even harder, kicking and punching and screaming, "NO! NO! NO! I DON'T WANNA!! LET GOOOOO!!!"

Dana tried to take the girl, getting as far as accepting her full weight into his arms until the little banshee got pissed and decided to deck him.

"Ow!" The teen yelped, barely managing to hold onto his sister with one arm as the other shot up to plug his bloody nostrils. He could feel it wasn't a serious injury, but it sure did smart.

"MELODY DIXIE COBB!!" Jayne bellowed, taking the girl from Dana's grasp and setting her on her feet. Holding the brunette still by both arms, he spared a quick glance up at his son to assure himself that the injury wasn't too severe before turning back to his daughter. "You _do not_ hit your brother!" He scolded firmly, "You hear me, girl? You'd better apologize right now and don't ever let me catch you doin' that again!"

Despite suddenly looking to be near tears, Melody stubbornly glared into her father's stern expression. "He's NOT my brother!!" The girl yelled in reply, throwing Jayne's hands off her and running away down the hallway. As soon as she turned the corner, her sobs echoed back behind her.

The sound was painful, Jayne closing his eyes and sighing heavily. He got to his feet slowly, seeming to be dragging the process out so he wouldn't have to face any of his children.

But he did, finally turning and looking Dana straight in the eye. "Sorry 'bout her," Jayne offered gruffly, kneading a sharp knot in his neck, "I didn't realize I was lettin' her turn into such a gorram brat until y'all showed up... your nose alright?"

"'S fine," Dana sniffed, his fingers still blocking the bloody feature, "I've had worse."

Jayne sighed again, scrubbing a broad hand down his face. "Well," He grumbled, "Best still let the doc have a look at ya... I gotta go deal with Melody so could you or Sally take care a' the projector? Kaylee can talk ya through it."

"Sure," The brunette agreed, earning a satisfied nod from his father as the man moved to chase his youngest. Dana wandered back towards the bay.

xxXxx

"Marry me!"

Mal had to yell it three times before Inara heard the plea over her own shrieks of pain.

In between pushing furiously to try to get the thing _out of her_, the woman managed to pant, "Wh... at?"

"Marry me!" The captain said again, still trying not to whimper as Inara crushed his hand, "It ain't about the kid! It never was! It was you! I want _you_! Marry me! Please?"

The tears that came to the former-Companion's eyes had little to do with the excruciating pain she was in. "Oh, Mal," She sobbed, relief washing over her because he'd _finally_ gotten it right.

Unfortunately, before she could give an answer, yet another severe contraction seized her body and it was all she could do to keep from passing out.

"That's it, Inara!" Simon coached, he and Ace masked and gloved and huddled underneath the sheet over the woman's bare lower half, "You're almost there! Just one more big push should do it!"

Only vaguely aware of Mal whimpering more encouragements into her ear, Inara gathered all the strength she had left and bore down to bring her child into the world.

Seconds later, the infirmary filled with tiny, hysterical newborn cries. "It's a girl!" Ace happily reported, her blonde head popping briefly up from under the sheet so that she could smile at the proud parents.

Inara sagged, crying now out of sheer joy. She had a daughter.

She glanced at Mal and saw tears in his eyes as well.

_They_ had a daughter.

A bastard daughter...

Despite the tears and exhaustion, Inara managed to reach out and smack Mal upside his head. "You couldn't have figured it out a few months ago?" She laughcried.

Rubbing his severely abused noggin, the good captain bit back, "Nothin' was keepin' you from givin' me a hint! I don't read minds, woman!" He blinked, then grinned, hopefully questioning, "Should I take that as a 'yes'?"

xxXxx

After the cursing tapered off some times around three, most of the inhabitants of the old firefly all managed to fall asleep in front of a kids' film starring a whole host of talking gorillas; Wash thought Kelly would like it since the boy had previously expressed a fondness for the creatures but the poor child was exhausted and slept through the entire thing. Dana had been the last to drop off, making sure his siblings, minus Ace and Melody, the crew, minus Jayne, Inara, and the captain, and all the rest of the kids were sleeping before giving into the weight of his own eyelids.

He was woken a few hours later and sat up to see Sally creeping carefully out of the darkened bay. "Where ya goin'?" Dana murmured nasally. His nose was sore, swollen and puffy but thankfully not broken, and, as was usually the case when he got woken in the middle of the night, the young man was finding it nearly impossible to think coherently.

He sensed rather than saw his brother's answering evil grin. "Bathroom," Sally whispered, "Go back to bed, Mouse. Your nose needs rest so it doesn't turn gangrenous and fall off."

Had he had more of his wits about him, Dana would have easily noticed the flat out ridiculousness of the statement. He would have interrogated his brother much more thoroughly about the purpose of the midnight romp. However, at that moment, all he could manage was a tired grunt of, "'K." He flopped bonelessly back into his bedroll, not seeing a giggling Sally slip off towards the passenger dorms and Stage One of his Master Plan for Revenge.

xxXxx

Soon after hearing Sally creep from his bed and Dana's less-than-remarkable attempt to find out what he was up to, Hunter gave up on feigning sleep and silently made her own way out of the bay. Walking without so much as a rustle of clothing, the girl headed for the bridge and was quickly situated in the pilot's seat, her nimble fingers a blur as she hacked her way onto the cortex.

Hunter easily brought up the warrants, her quick cornflower eyes scanning the reward money in a snap. Mouse: 2 million credits. Sally: 1 million. Ace: 1 million. Merry: 75,000. Frankie: 75,000. Jan: 75,000. Hunter: 5 million. Kelly: 25,000. Murphy: 25,000.

The girl knew that being worth so much more to the Alliance than any of her siblings had to be related to the six month gap in her memory. She knew something must've been done to her during that time.

But, no matter how hard she tried, Hunter couldn't remember a single moment of it. She'd been returning to the barrack with Jan. The two of them were laughing and joking and then... nothing until what she'd thought was the next morning, being tackled by her siblings, half of them in tears, because she'd disappeared and they'd thought she was gone forever.

How does a person just _lose_ six months? It didn't make any sense, gorramit!

For the hundredth time since her return from those lost months, Hunter felt her heart began to race as her panic and fear took over.

Anything could have happened and not knowing made whatever it was worse because the girl's wild imagination attempted to fill in the blanks with scenarios that, quite frankly, scared the living crap out of her. She could have been tortured, experimented on, raped, beaten, used, abused, humiliated, killed, forced to kill...

The girl couldn't disprove a single theory. So they just kept piling up until it felt like she'd lived through them all...

Her breathing got fast and too shallow. Her chest grew tight and her head started to swim. Her tearing blue eyes could no longer focus on the glowing cortex screen. Her whole body trembled and she could hear herself shouting inside her own head. The world felt dreamlike and slow even as her thoughts raced out of control. It was disgust and helplessness, panic, the absolute terror that, at any moment, it was all going to turn out to be real, going to begin again.

"Need to breathe," A soft voice interrupted Hunter's racing thoughts, thin, soft hands stroking tendrils of sweat-soaked ginger hair away from her temples. Hunter felt her ear being pressed against a chest, felt and heard the soft voice coming out of it. "With me," The soft voice ordered, "Lab monkey see, lab monkey do."

Hunter tried, tried to match the relaxed, even breaths she could feel and hear. No matter how hard she tried, the girl couldn't manage to slow her own down enough to actually count.

"Come on," The voice went on, fuzzy and far off even though it was right up against Hunter's ear, "Been doing it since birth. First and most valuable instinct. Rely on the hindbrain. It has not yet steered you wrong."

Nothing was working. She couldn't stop herself from thinking, from filling that gap in the worst, most twisted ways.

She had just enough breath left to sob once and then no more would come.

The quiet humming began. "Felt nothing," That voice soothed in time with the gentle song, "Promise. Seven felt nothing. New doctors, new drugs, new technique. Seven felt nothing during the lost months. Only preliminaries. Scans and tests easier when the subject cannot struggle."

Hunter didn't even notice her breathing begin to slow as she listened greedily. On a rational level, she knew that there was no possible way for this soft voice to know anything about what she'd gone through. On another, deeper one, the girl was sure the words were truth.

"Didn't find what they were looking for." It was Miss River, Hunter realized, her stepmother was the person talking, "Couldn't use the ginger kid so they let her go, moved onto greener amygdales. Thank the dear and fluffy Lord-being."

Trembling uncontrollably, Hunter gradually began to calm. As soon as she could breathe again, she started to cry.

xxXxx

"Come on, everybody! Get up!"

The Tam triplets groaned as their mama's happy voice blared through the bay. They did love the woman but, sometimes, the boys just wished she'd let them sleep.

"Come on!" Kaylee cried, wrestling covers off her sons' small bodies, "Cap'n wants to bring the baby out here to meet us! You go get washed and dressed so you make a good impression!"

"Mama," Lukas whined, trying without success to hold onto his blanket and reason with the cheery mechanic, "She's just a baby. She ain't gonna care if we're wearin' pajamas."

"Ya, Mama," Ben agreed as he curled into a tiny ball of little boy limbs and disheveled brown hair, "Babies are real dumb. Dumber 'n Noah, even. Daddy said so."

"What?" Noah pouted, russet hair sticking straight up, blues eyes filling with tears, and bottom lip trembling, "Daddy said I was dumb?"

"'Course he didn't!" Kaylee quickly replied, scooping her son off the floor and giving him a comforting cuddle, "Your daddy loves you. He would never, ever call you dumb 'cuz you ain't." She spared Ben with a fierce look, scolding, "I think you need another reminder that it ain't nice to call names, young man. You're gonna be sortin' parts for me after breakfast."

"Aw, Mama," Ben whined, "That ain't fair!"

"Tough cookies," Kaylee chirped, kissing Noah once more before setting him on his feet and giving his behind an affectionate whack, "Now I want the three of you dressed in ten minutes of you're all gonna be moppin' floors for the rest a' the day."

The triplets didn't waste much time trooping off out of the bay, dodging sleepy-eyes Cobb offspring as they went. As soon as they were out of sight of their mama, the boys took off running towards their shared room in what were formerly the passenger dorms. The captain had allowed Kaylee to remove a wall in order to make two small bunks into one that would be big enough for her three boys to grow into. She and the boys' daddy also had an expanded room just across the hall.

As Lukas pulled into the lead of their race, Ben tackled him in the doorway. Noah tried to leap over the pair to win it, but Ben yanked his ankle and sent the redhead smashing into the floor. They wrestled--kicking and punching and biting and yelling--until they managed to roll themselves into their room. Once they realized that they'd all just arrived at the exact same moment, squabbling over who got to go first seemed a little pointless and the boys moved towards their shared dresser to get out some clothes.

It happened kind of all at once. Each boy grabbed a different drawer--the belongings had been strategically arranged so that they could do so after one too many arguments about who got to go first. They all opened them at the same time, and all hell broke loose.

Noah's drawer was in the middle and erupted in a spray of cold pressurized water from a length of tied-off surgical tubing, soaking all three boys just as the bottom of Ben's drawer, which was at the top and accessible only by standing on a small set of stairs fashioned by their mother, showered the triplets with dust and dirt and finely shredded paper.

The boys spluttered and yelled for a few minutes, wet and dirty and knowing that their mama wouldn't be happy with them at all. Lukas, the one who'd been spared most of the onslaught by having been at the very bottom of dresser and blocked by his brothers, wiped some muck out of his eyes and declared, "I knew Sally was gonna get back at us. He don't realize who he's dealin' with!"

He grabbed a pair of pants out of his drawer, the only one that seemed to not have been booby trapped, and stepped into them as he crowed, "Let's just see how that amateur likes wakin' up in the airlock!" The boy tugged his trousers up... and promptly fell over, his feet catching and unable to make their way through their designated holes. From his pile of shock and confusion on the floor, Lukas blinked down at the cuffs to find that they were sewn shut.

"Ok," The dark-haired triplet reluctantly admitted, "He's kinda good."

"Boys!" They heard their mama calling from too close to do anything about the mess they'd found themselves in, "I'm comin' in and you'd better be close to dressed!" Three pairs of too-large eyes went wide as Kaylee appeared in the doorway.

"What in the Lord's name do you think you're doin'?" She scolded sternly, hands on her hips as she stared down at her sons, "Look at this mess!"

"It wasn't us!" Noah squeaked frantically, "We didn't do it!"

"Don't you tell me anymore a' your tall tales, Noah Derrial Tam," The boys' mama stated, wagging a finger at them, "I expect this to be cleaned up right away and then you'd best spruce up the rest of _Serenity_ while you're at it. See if that don't teach you a bit more respect for my girl."

Ben opened his mouth, undoubtedly to give an indignant argument, but Lukas cut him off with a swift stomp on his brother's foot, giving a glance that clearly said the brunette should shut his big mouth while they were still ahead.

"Yes, Mama," The triplets chimed, hanging their heads as the same through raced amongst them: Revenge.

xxXxx

"How's your nose, Mouse?" Merry asked brightly, wearing a busted snoz of his own, as well as a pair of raccoon eyes obtained after he and his twin ended up on the receiving end of Sally's sleep-flailing limbs.

Dana glanced sideways at the brunette and breathed in through the offending digit with great difficulty, nasally and crossly insisting, "'S fine." It really wasn't. It hurt like hell. He was cranky and knew that his brothers and sisters knew it and that just served to annoy him further.

Grinning, Merry whipped shaggy fringe out of his light honey brown eyes and teased, "And how was it that you got hurt again? Little Mel popped you one?"

"Shut up," Dana grumbled, a pale blush spreading across his tan cheeks. He didn't want to talk about the incident and had refused to go into much detail while Dr. Tam was examining him the night before. He wanted to forget it had ever happened.

"I'm just curious," Merry went on, elbowing his brother lightly, "This latest injury makes it twice in recent days that you've been taken down by babies. Seems to me like you're losing your touch. Getting old and whatnot. That'd be enough to make anyone feel a bit down."

"Shut up," Dana repeated. He had a headache and it was much too early in the morning for this harassment. Why did they always have to bother him about every little thing? Couldn't any of them just leave him alone for two gorram minutes?

"It's ok, Mouse," Merry comforted theatrically, suddenly attacking his big brother with an enthusiastic full-body bear hug, "I'm here for you! Let it all out!"

"Mer," The teen growled, fighting futilely to get his massive arms free of the hold without hurting the younger boy in the process, "Mer, come on! Let me go! This isn't funny!"

"I dunno," Sally chuckled as he leaned an arm onto Jan's shoulder, "We're all kind of enjoying ourselves."

"Don't fight it, Mouse," Frankie contributed, coming flying out of nowhere to latch onto his other side, "You know you need some serious hugs."

"I-" He stuttered, knocked fairly speechless as the twins held on tighter and Kelly and Murphy bounced over to join in. Finally, all he could do was sigh and surrender, secretly admitting that, ya, he probably did need some serious hugs. He felt kind of shitty. His head throbbed and what Melody said the night before him still stung.

But, as usual, his siblings refused to let him sulk. Gorramit. Dana's bad mood disappeared in the midst of a massive group hug.

"Alright, guys," He said, breaking into a reluctant smile as he got an arm free and wrapped it around Frankie's shoulders, "I feel better. Thanks."

"You sure?" Merry questioned happily, not loosening his hold one bit, "Because we can do this all day."

"I'm sure," Dana chuckled, stretching out a long limb to tickle Kelly's scrawny ribs, "Really. You can let go now." They did. Dana immediately grabbed Merry into a headlock, laughing and vigorously grating his knuckles against the sixteen-year-old's shaggy brown hair.

The victory was short-lived, however, because the other members of the group hug brigade decided to take offense to the treatment of their compatriot and tackled Dana en masse. With Murphy cutting off the flow of oxygen to his brain as the little hellcat latched onto his neck--she must've been working on her sleeper hold because it was getting much better--and Frankie barreling into his stomach while Kelly took out his knees, everybody's favorite big brother went down hard to the bay floor. Any lingering remnants of his foul mood were washed away in a loud, playful wrestling match that Sally and Jan didn't have the heart to resist.

A few minutes later, Hunter's loud, rather unladylike snort heralded her arrival onto the catwalks above and put a brief halt to the tussle. "Take you grunts out of a strict military environment for just a few days and all hell breaks loose," She laughed dryly, coming down the stairs with Miss River at her heels and some sort of electronic contraption in her arms. Waving the messy circuit board above Sally's head, Hunter cooed, "Made you that thing you wanted."

"Shiny," Sally beamed, pushing up off of Dana's head in order to get to his own feet. He gave her a peck on the cheek as thanks before taking the device and disappearing up the stairs with it. His giggles were disturbingly ominous, especially because the teen wasn't really the type to giggle at all.

Dana raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to ask?"

Hunter grinned impishly. "Probably not."

That was about when Murphy decided that she didn't like being pinned down by her brother's long legs and bit him.

"OW!" He yelped, struggling his way away from the little hellcat and only succeeding in reminding the rest of his attackers that they hadn't quite finished attacking him. Tactical error. He kicked himself for the rookie move.

Five minutes later, they were still going at it when Miss Kaylee marched by with her trio of demon sons. The boys were looking far less hyperactive than usual, all scowling as they plopped down near the stairs and began whispering heatedly. Dana got chills but figured he'd be safe for awhile. They'd probably have their hands full with Sally and his war.

The Washburne family made an appearance a few moments later, Wash and Gabe riding his chair down the stair lift as Zoe trotted along beside. "Mal ain't come out yet?" The first mate asked, smiling fondly as she watched her son jump from his father's lap and go flying into the Cobb kids' wrestling match.

"Nope," Kaylee reported, keeping her eyes on her sons at all times, just daring one of them to make a break for it in attempt to get out of their punishments, "Simon said he and 'Nara spent most a' the mornin' bickerin' about names. Last I heard, they still didn't have one."

"Typical," Wash chuckled, popping into a wheelie and doing a few donuts just for the hell of it, "Those two could argue about the color a' the black."

"They did once, if I recall," Zoe added wistfully.

"Long as you're standin' around not workin'," Mal interrupted, smiling brilliantly as he emerged from the direction of the infirmary with a tiny pink thing wrapped up in a blanket and tucked preciously into his arms, "Get over here and meet my kid."

The crew certainly didn't need to be told twice. They'd been awaiting the little one's arrival for months on end. Promise of laying eyes on the new creature even broke the Cobb offspring out of their wrestling match, all of them gathering cautiously around the captain and waiting for an introduction.

Beaming with pride, Mal held out the bundle, never taking his eyes off the small face hidden carefully in the swaddled yellow blanket. "Whadaya think? She got my devilish good looks, right?" Mal cooed down to the infant though he was clearly addressing the surrounding crowd and also clearly delusional; the girl appeared to take after her mother, dark complexion, dark, pouting mouth, dark eyes, sleek dark curls.

"She's adorable!" Kaylee squealed softly, reaching out to touch the pudgy little baby cheeks poking out of the blanket as the girl they belonged to carefully watched her proud daddy.

"A little heartbreaker," Wash agreed happily, craning his neck to see, "What's her name?"

The captain looked a bit sheepish, those no less bursting with joy. "Well," He began, "We, uh, ain't exactly decided on one yet... we're workin' on it."

Everyone but Mal saw Zoe roll her eyes and did their best to stifle their laughter, channeling the amusement instead into providing _Serenity_'s newest arrival with a warm and emphatic welcome.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

bi zui - shut up

cao ni zu-zong shi-ba dai - fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation

bu-yao-lian di dong-xi - you are shameless and less than human

zheng qi de gou-shi dui - steaming crap pile

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Hindbrain - a primitive portion of the brain that includes the medulla oblongata, which is responsible for controlling respiration.

I only sort of cheaped out on naming the Mal-ling. I have a few names in mind but am as of yet undecided. I welcome suggestions and hope for reviews. Sorry for taking so long. The summer really got away from me and I go back to school soon and it's like ah! ... ok then...


	8. Part 8: Heart to Heart

Part 8 - Heart to Heart

Sally nearly got himself spaced on the last day before _Serenity_ reached Cinnabar.

Good Dr. Tam announced at breakfast that he would like to innoc everyone on board over the course of the afternoon. It was routine before going onto new planets, especially since so many of them were home to some pretty gnarly biological quirks. His declaration, however, prompted the young needle-phobe in their midst to stand from his meal and irately shout, "_Jie__n__ta__h__-duh__gu__ay_, you sick fucking sadist!!" Before Dana and Mal had a chance to dive to cover Murphy's and the yet unnamed Reynolds baby's ears, respectively, let alone give more direct reactions to the outburst, Sally tore furiously from the room.

Had it not taken seven hours to locate him, the captain surely would have sent the teen out the airlock for damaging his precious daughter's innocent little psyche with such foul language. As it was, Inara had to use half that time to calm the man down, the other half to convince him that, at two weeks old, their child could not possibly have absorbed the swear words and would not be influenced negatively by them. Much to the varied amusement and annoyance of all, the captain was turning out to be an incredibly neurotic parent, the kind that woke the whole ship shouting for the doctor in the middle of the night-cycle because his baby girl had sneezed.

After nearly a full day of searching, Dana found his brother wedged in the old Firefly's belly, in a cozy little crux between the fresh water tank and the air purification unit. He was kind of amazed that Sally got his himself in there. It took quite some acrobatics for Dana to climb down without falling and splattering himself, not to mention force his bulky body through the narrow gaps between the ducts and pipes and wires that were in abundance so deep inside _Serenity_'s guts. And Sally was bigger than Dana; he had almost a whole foot and several dozen pounds on him.

Huffing, feeling almost unbearably claustrophobic, Dana squeezed into the small space and took a few moments to catch his breath. "Sal," He called after a long stretch with absolutely no acknowledgement from his brother, who had his long lumberjack legs hugged tightly to his chest and his shaggy head down. The giant still didn't move, might not have even been breathing for how still he seemed.

"Sal, you have to have the innoc," Dana scolded, stern but gentle, raising his voice to be heard over the steady whir of machinery, "You'll get sick again."

"They're not even letting us off the ship," He argued sullenly, speaking into his lap, "Why does it matter?"

"Captain said he might let us off if there aren't too many feds around," Dana answered, wiping his sweat-drenched forehead and craning his neck in an attempt to catch Sally's eyes, "But even if he doesn't, the rest of the crew will be out and we'll have contact with them. We're going to be exposed to everything they are, not to mention the planet air, water, and supplies we'll be taking aboard."

Not picking his head up, the behemoth grumbled, "Don't care. 'M not doing it. You can't make me."

"We're not on Bastille anymore," Dana soothed, "It's nothing but an innoc. It's to help you, keep you safe... look." He raised the sleeve of his red cartoon mouse t-shirt--the one Sally and Ace gave him for his birthday that had rapidly and inexplicably become his favorite--to expose a tidy triangle of pinprick punctures in the tanned flesh of his right bicep. "Nothing to it," The brunette comforted with a watery smile, "Barely felt a thing."

"Great," Sally crossly snapped, eyes mere slits as he peeked over the top of his arm.

"Come on," The eldest Cobb offspring pressed, patient but goading, "Even Hunter and Murph took theirs like men. I'll hold your hand, too, if you want."

Finally looking up only to glare heatedly, Sally growled, "Screw you."

"Not until you've had your innoc," Dana teased, "That's how things spread."

"Gross, Mouse," Sally quipped, a distasteful grimace crossing his angular olive face, "Even if I wasn't your _brother_, and _straight_, I'm _way _out of your league."

After a brief blink, Dana smirked. "I like how that's the first place your twisted little mind goes to," He chuckled, fidgeting in the small, oppressively hot cranny.

"I've seen how you look at me," The behemoth joked, fighting a slight, reluctant grin, "I don't blame you. I am pretty damn irresistible, but a guy's got to be on his guard against perverts, especially the ones he's related to." The joke only stood for a few moments before Sally's expression fell once again, hardening in order to veil barely-contained terror. "Why can't they just put that _go-se_ in a rutting pill?" He asked his brother, thick-lashed cerulean eyes wide and pleading.

Letting a comforting hand fall to rest on the seventeen-year-old's brawny, trembling shoulder, Dana stated, "I'm sure Ace can tell you a lot better than me... it'll be quick, Sal. I promise. You'll barely feel a thing."

He put his head down again, forehead and thick black hair falling forward to touch his knees. Despite being humungous, the boy suddenly seemed very tiny. "I always feel it," He muttered, "Even thinking about needles..." A shudder ran the entirety of his massive back, slinking coldly along his spine. "I'd rather just get sick again."

"Not an option, Salvatore," Dana reprimanded in his best C.O. voice, "The next thing you catch could be fatal and I'm not willing to risk your life like that. You're getting the innoc."

"But I don't want to," Sally whined, small and strained, "You don't... you don't understand, Mouse. It makes me crazy and I don't even mean to be because there's... metal and who know what being shoved _inside me_. And I can't stop thinking about it, stuff being there that's not supposed to, what it's doing to my insides... I-I..." His voice cracked and he took a few moments to continue, "I was too little to know what they were doing to me, just that... that they strapped me down so I couldn't move at all and jabbed me over and over and over, and it didn't matter how much I screamed or cried or threatened or begged, they wouldn't _stop_. They wouldn't let me go. I was... completely helpless and I_ couldn't stand it_... I looked like a gorram pincushion by the time they were done and... and then some of the track marks got infected and whatever they gave me, that pituitary stuff or whatever Ace called it, it started to work at about the same time and my whole body just freaked out. I started... shaking. Couldn't get warm no matter what I did and I could feel my bones growing too fast for everything around them and it was like they were on fire, trying to impale me from the inside out and..."

He stopped all of a sudden, picking his head up and looking around the cramped space and seeming to notice for the first time that he'd kept talking when he normally would have shut up. His face flushed pink, deeply embarrassed. Sally wasn't too big on sharing his feelings and he'd never before talked in so much detail about the experimentation he'd suffered.

Dana gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, kneading the tight muscles at the base of his brother's neck. "I'm sorry, Sal," He stated kindly, "But we're not there anymore. We're free and this is not the Alliance who wants to give you this innoc. It's _me_, ok? Me, and Ace, and Merry, and Frankie, and Jan, and Hunter, and Kelly, and Murphy. Because we love you and we want you healthy, not because of some gorram science project. If you can trust us, then you don't need to be afraid."

Sally stared, unsure, nervous. He shakily replied, "I trust you guys..." The boy swallowed hard, deep dark blue eyes pleading as he finally conceded, "Will you do it, Mouse? I don't... I don't want the doctor... or Ace... they'll both enjoy it too much."

With a gentle smile, Dana agreed, "Sure, little brother. If that'll make things easier on you. Now let's get up there and get this over with before you go changing your mind on me."

With a thoughtful frown, Sally seemed to come back to his usual grouchy, snarky seventeen-year-old self. "How mad is the captain?" He questioned cautiously, standing and starting to climb up out of his hidey hole, "He's not going to space me, is he? Because if I'm getting spaced anyways, I'd rather not have the innoc..."

xxXxx

Despite the considerable racket made by his chair as its wheels spun against the metal floor, not one of the assorted Cobb kids bothered to look up when Wash rolled towards them. The six out of nine--Dana, Sally, and Ace were absent--who were lounging anxiously in the hallway outside one of the empty bunks barely seemed to be moving at all, breathing nearly in tandem as all of their gazes stayed locked expectantly on the closed door.

"What's going on?" The pilot questioned, unsure whether or not to be unnerved by the strange behavior.

"Sally's getting his innoc," Frankie replied without looking his way, soft and distracted, "Dana's doing it but he didn't tell Ace or Dr. Tam so we're standing guard until they're done."

"They've been in there for forever," Murphy complained, pouting and slumping bonelessly against Merry's chest, letting the teen fidget distractedly with her blonde curls, "What's taking so long?"

"He's probably still trying to weasel out of it," Hunter answered with a halfhearted grumble, rubbing her arm, "If I had to get the gorram shot, then he does, too!"

"Have a heart," Jan teased, pressed tight to his sister's side and resting his head of sandy hair on her bony, freckled shoulder, "You just don't _like_ needles. Sally's scared to death of them."

"So is Murph," Hunter argued petulantly, because she was bored and worried and arguing helped ease her mind, "She took her pokes without half as much whining."

Merry chuckled, "Says the girl who swore for an hour straight and threatened to castrate the doctor."

"Ya, well," She responded grumpily, "Not all of that was about the needle. Rutting nosy quack..."

Before Wash could jump into the conversation with some wisdom of his own--like the fact that guarding a room that was supposed to be empty wasn't exactly subtle--Ace came walking down the hallway with Simon by her side. When the girl saw her siblings gathered in such an awkward, unusual place, her icy blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's going on?" She asked, "What are you guys doing? You're supposed to be looking for Sally."

"Taking a break," Hunter spoke up, lying without so much as a blink, "Mouse said it was ok."

This answer, however, only caused Ace to frown further and question, "Where is Mouse, anyways?"

"Still searching for Sally," Merry chirped with a quirky grin. "Maybe we should've named him after something closer to the bloodhound family. He's downright relentless," He added, trying to draw attention away from the way Kelly had begun to fidget nervously.

Ace wasn't buying it, pretty face stoic and calculating as she glanced around at everyone of her siblings in turn, finally settling on the squirming twelve-year-old in their midst, the perpetual weak link where lies and conspiracies were concerned. "Kelly," The teen asked very flatly, "What's going on?"

Shrinking against Frankie's side, the boy flushed a far-too-pretty shade of pink and squeaked, "I... um... I can't tell you."

Once again, Ace's gaze swept over all her brothers and sisters before settling once again on the youngest boy. "Why not?" She questioned, sweet but slightly annoyed.

Mal sauntered their way from the other end of the hallway, paying no mind to the strange group as he bounced and cooed to his dark baby girl.

Kelly's bottom lip quivered pitifully for a few moments before the boy promptly burst into tears, burrowing into Frankie's motherly embrace as he sobbed, "'Cuz I don't want Sally to die!!"

Ace stumbled backwards in bewilderment, standing dumbly there in the hall for a few long moments before dropping to kneel at the boy's side. "Aw, come on, Kel," She soothed desperately, "Don't cry. Nobody's dying."

The teen was so preoccupied she didn't notice her oldest brother climbing out of the bunk behind her. Wash watched as Dana frowned at the scene and questioned, "What's going on?"

The expression Ace gave over her shoulder was at first helpless and then immediately ripe with suspicion. "Kelly seems to think Sally's going to die," She snapped, eyes narrowing at her big brother, "What were you up to in there?"

Dana waved an injection gun, "Giving Sally his innoc. He wouldn't agree to it any other way."

"Mouse!" Ace hissed, standing away from the sniffling little blonde as he finally seemed to calm down, "You don't have any medical training! You don't know what you're doing! You could give him an air embolism!"

"I did a cortex search," The young man defended, not struggling when Ace snatched the injection gun out of his hands, "I followed procedure."

"Idiot," She growled angrily.

"Hey," Mal interrupted, covering his daughter's delicate ears and giving a stern frown, "Watch that mouth. I think my little darlin's already been scarred enough for one day."

Ace gave an unhappy huff, still glaring quite unrelentingly at Dana. "So where's Sally then?" She demanded, trying to push past, "Doctor Tam should make sure you didn't do anything to hurt him!"

Dana stuck out an arm and stopped his sister from going into the bunk. "He's fine," The boy stated in his most authoritative tone, "He said he wanted a couple of minutes to calm down so leave him alone until he's ready."

Jayne came around the corner just in time to see Ace give Dana a shove.

"The possibility of death trumps any freak out he may be having," The girl snarled, once again trying to get past Dana and not having any luck as he grabbed and pinned her against his chest with one long, burly arm. "Cut it out, Mouse!" She shouted, easily ducking out of the hold and countering with a quick, vicious jab to his ribs.

"No, you cut it out," Dana replied, blocking another punch and stepping to hook his ankle around Ace's. Fast enough to be extremely impressive, he yanked and knocked the girl off her feet but managed to catch her before she could hit the hallway floor. Wash got the distinct impression that the young man was a hell of a lot quicker and stronger and more dangerous than he let on, that he continually held back in fear of hurting his siblings.

"Sally nearly had a panic attack just from me giving him one shot," Dana hissed, keeping his sister immobilized in a strange half dip, "He's going to lose it if you and the doctor start in on him right now. I get that you're trying to help, but making him feel like a science project and pushing him into a major episode is not going to."

Ace's expression fell, ice blue eyes going soft with guilt. "But you still could have done it wrong," She argued, unfailingly stubborn, "He needs to be checked out."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Dana stated, unmoving in his decree and proving without a doubt that he was firmly in command of the little ragtag group. Ace didn't have much choice but to nod unhappily. The brunette released her.

A rather uncomfortable silence followed. Wash fidgeted with his worn gloves. Ace took out some of her frustration by glaring heatedly at her father.

"No roughhousing in the hallways," The captain declared rather serenely, bouncing and cooing to his dark baby girl as he wandered away.

"Yes, sir," Dana called after him.

xxXxx

"Don't pick it," Ace scolded gently, sitting carefully close beside her tallest brother, "I don't want you to get an infection."

Though slightly creeped out at how exceedingly and uncharacteristically nice the blonde was being, Sally heeded Ace's advice and let his fingers drop from the trio of neat puncture marks on his right bicep. He squirmed on the bay floor, his skin crawling with phantoms that he knew were only a product of his battered psyche and yet still made the young man close to crazy with panic and fear.

Just seconds later, he found his lap full of skinny, twitchy little boy, of chaotic blonde curls and a sunshine smile. "I'm proud of you," Kelly said sweetly, putting his scrawny arms around his brother's massive neck and giving a tight squeeze.

"Uh," The black-haired seventeen-year-old gaped awkwardly, "Ok... thanks, runt."

Kelly beamed, not bothering to let go as he added, "You got the shot even though you're scared of them and that's real brave. I hope I'm as brave as you when I grow up. Ace says I might not ever get big like you are, but I can be as brave and I think that's more important anyways."

Sally's olive face flushed a deeply embarrassed shade of red. He could just barely see Ace's adoring grin out of the corner of his eye and was glad that she was the only one present. Touching as they were, Kelly's statements didn't do too much for the tough guy image Sally was desperately trying to salvage.

"You're, uh," He coughed, "You're plenty brave now so don't worry about it."

"I'm not scared of that much," Kelly argued sweetly, "But Mouse says not being scared and being brave are different because being brave means you're strong enough to do the things you're scared of."

Sally squirmed. "How've you been sleeping?" He asked, pulling a quick subject change and hoping his littlest brother went along with it, "You need to run around or do some sparring before lights out?"

Though it didn't seem possible, Kelly's face lit up even brighter. "You'll spar with me?" The boy questioned, excitedly bouncing to his feet and then in place a dizzying few times, "Shiny! Let's go!"

"Be sure to keep it down," Dana ordered as he came tramping into the bay, "The captain was pretty keen on spacing you so don't give him anymore reason."

Sally glared at the eldest Cobb kid and allowed himself to be led away by the most rambunctious of their ranks.

Dana took his seat beside Ace, giving a small smile of truce that the girl accepted with one of her own. "Wash said he's going to let me help land the ship tomorrow," The young brunette announced, quite obviously elated.

"Nice," His sister replied with a sly grin, "Dr. Tam said that I can help during surgery if the captain or Jayne get themselves shot up."

Chuckling, Dana countered, "I'm happy for you... where're the others?"

"Murphy's playing with Gabe," Ace answered, "I think Merry and Frankie are putting on a performance for Miss River, Miss Kaylee, and Miss Inara. Jan and Hunter... well, I'm not sure where they are..."

"That's never a good sign," Dana sighed, struggling back to his feet even though all he really wanted was sleep, "I'd better find them. Keep an eye on things, ya?"

"Of course, Mouse," Ace replied, grinning at the scene Sally and Kelly were making on the other end of the bay, "Go on. I can handle these two knuckleheads."

He gave a fond chuckle, taking a brief moment to appreciate the fine punch combination Kelly was using to assault Sally's gut before Sally just picked the blonde up and chucked him into the bulkheads.

Dana jogged up the stairs and into the bunk corridor, on the lookout for his two wayward siblings. As was usually the case, all he needed to do to find them was to follow the sounds of the maniacal laughter. This time, it was coming from the engine room. The brawny young man lurked silently in the doorway and listened to the conversation.

"Not too many volts, Hunt. You don't want to kill him."

"Why the gorram hell not?"

"I've got to figure killing the ship's only doctor might interfere with the status of our ride."

"True. How do you think the captain would feel about rendering him comatose for the rest of the trip?"

"Depends on the day, I suppose. The doc does have a mouth on him... hey, you guys got that in common. You should try bonding."

"_Bi __zui_, jackass. I thought you said you wanted to help."

"No, I said I've always wanted to know how to make a taser."

"A what?" Dana finally interrupted, stepping fully into the engine room with his arms folded imposingly across his broad chest.

The brunette and redhead were seated on the floor in the middle of a mess of spare parts. Hunter's freckled hands held a crude box-shaped device that had its clearly unfinished guts exposed, as well as a pair of metal prongs sticking out of the top. "Nothing, nosy," She insisted with an affronted frown.

"Wrong answer, ginger kid," Dana reprimanded sternly, trying his best to keep a smirk from his face, "You can't taser the doctor."

"Why not?" The girl pouted angrily, "Gorram bastard still won't leave me alone! I've tried everything else!"

"I'll talk to him for you," Dana placated, "You were just in trouble for helping Sally rig the toilets to squirt the triplets-"

A giggle from the pair before him broke off his speech and Dana had to work even harder not to smile. Embedding radio transmitters in the seats and microchips in their boots was absolutely ingenious and had provided many days of quality entertainment.

"As I was saying," The teen continued, "You were just in trouble and I think it would be great if you could manage to behave for more than a week straight."

"Sorry, Mouse," Jan remarked with a bright grin, "But you don't know us at all if you think that's going to happen."

"What if I just spike his food?" Hunter suggested helpfully, "That pharmacy is stocked and he can't bug me if he can't safely pry his _pi-__gu_ from the crapper for longer than a minute."

"No, Hunt!" Dana cried, tearing at his hair in frustration, "I'll talk to the doctor and you'll keep your freckly little behind away from him, understand?"

The girl glared sourly, snapping, "What good is it being smarter than everyone if you'll never let me use my powers for evil?"

"Just..." Dana sighed, exasperated and still trying very hard not to laugh, "Just go get ready for bed. Both of you. Lights out in twenty." They got up and began to leave. Dana managed to snatch the taser out of Hunter's pocket when she tried to hide it. She gave him a dirty look before stomping off after Jan.

Dana let his shoulders slump and took a deep breath to relax. It didn't really help but he moved along anyways, heading straight for the infirmary. The doctor was there but didn't notice him until he set Hunter's newest invention down on the exam table. "My sister wants to taser you," He announced flatly.

Dr. Tam jumped, looking rather small and startled even as he made a quick attempt to make himself seem taller against Dana's imposing frame. It didn't work. "What do you mean?" He questioned, "I'm only trying to help."

"She doesn't remember anything," Dana insisted crossly, "Harassing her won't change that."

The doctor smoothed down his gray-streaked, receding hair, arguing, "But if I could just get a brain scan-"

"I'm trying to be nice," Dana interrupted, patience running out, gaze darkening at a perceived threat, "I'm trying to think of a nice way to say, 'leave my sister alone or it's not going to be her and her little toys you have to worry about.' I'm not really coming up with anything though."

"Are you threatening me?" The doctor cried, looking absolutely startled, as well as deeply insulted.

Dana gave a crooked, slightly unhinged grin. "Just telling it like it is, Doc. We're sort of a protective bunch. Hunter doesn't need us to fight her battles for her but that doesn't mean we won't if there keeps being a problem. I appreciate you taking care of us and I'm especially grateful for all you've been teaching Ace, but that only buys you a certain amount of leeway here and you're rapidly running out. It's not cute anymore. Hunter has made it abundantly clear that your interest is not welcome, and I'm asking you to please respect that because otherwise you're bothering my sister. And _no one_ bothers my sisters. Understand?"

Dr. Tam's mouth opened and closed a few times, gaping like a fish's. Eventually, he found some composure, clearing his throat and once again trying and failing to make himself look larger against Dana's extremely imposing frame. "I was wondering when that Cobb resemblance would finally show in you," He remarked dryly, "You are truly your father's son."

"And that's a bad thing?" Dana snapped in reply, maintaining his composure only through great personal restraint, "Show me a man who's not willing to kill to protect his family and I'll show you a man who's not a man at all."

The doctor gaped for a few seconds, shocked and seemingly unable to form a response.

"Goodnight, sir," Dana said, giving a mock salute and turning briskly to leave, "I hope our talk has been productive."

xxXxx

Jayne watched Dana stomp out of the infirmary and smiled, his heart swelling. It was ridiculous just how proud he was of that boy and he hadn't even known him a whole month. All his kids were brilliant and unique and, Lord help him, he loved them all like hell, but Dana was something else. He'd shaped himself into a fine man. That speech proved it a hundred times over.

The merc slipped from the shadow in which he'd been standing and made his way through the doorway of the infirmary. His smile turned into a smirk as he laid eyes on the doctor, on the floored expression the pansy ass was wearing on his normally smug face. "I'm surprised he let you get away with that _go-se_ fer as long as he did," Jayne commented jokingly, picking the taser up from the exam table. He turned the little device over in his large hands and gave an appreciative whistle, "This is some high-quality hardware. Maybe Hunter'll finish it fer me."

"I'm only trying to help her!" Simon insisted sharply, looking three seconds away from stomping his foot in the same brat move his boys used to get themselves sweets.

"Does she seem like she needs your help, Doc?" Jayne answered, pocketing Hunter's taser, "She ain't moon-brained and she ain't gone on any killin' sprees, least not any I heard of. Girl's biggest problem right now is you constantly bringin' up what those _ching-wah__tsao__ duh __liou__mahng_ purple-bellies done to her." He took a moment to calm his breathing, to talk himself down from maiming his brother-in-law and then the interstellar governing body. "Anyways, it's like Dana said. Just let her be and we're shiny."

Simon had a very unattractive frown on his aging face. "The fact that Hunter doesn't show any mental impairment or extrasensory capabilities could be the key to stabilizing River," He said, "Hunter may be the next generation of the same project. Whatever mistakes they made with River, they could have corrected in Hunter and if I could just see-"

"River said they didn't do nothin' to Hunter," Jayne cut in angrily, "If you'da asked her, she would'a told ya. Hunter's geniusy so they thought they could use her. They knocked her out fer six months n' poked around in her brain. They didn't find what they needed so they sent her back without cuttin' anythin' up. End 'a story. It sure was a relief fer the girl to hear. She'd been imagin' all sorts 'a horrible stuff. Was keepin' Riv up nights with her bad dreams. Funny how often it was your face she was seein' in all those scary science rooms."

The doctor had the grace to look embarrassed, deflating a bit and fidgeting with a tray of immaculately clean surgical instruments.

Satisfied that he'd made his point, Jayne turned and stomped away, hearing Simon weakly remark, "I was only trying to help..."

xxXxx

Despite a slightly bumpy landing, the job went smooth. Ace was sort of disappointed. She'd been looking forward to her first real surgery.

But it was good news. The fireworks got safely to the drop point and the crew got paid handsomely. Jayne used a few creds of his and River's share to have nine sets of false ident papers made. They claimed the kids as Daniel Samir Morgan, Solomon Vincent Dean, Alice Yasmin Kaur, Mercury Lance Fiore, Felice Leia Fiore, Jon Richard North, Harper Allison Zhu, Kelvin Adam Gallagher, and Molly Jane Grant and would stand up to at reasonably amount of scrutiny at searches and checkpoints and such. Because of this, and because Cinnabar didn't have a large Alliance presence, the captain and Jayne decided it would be alright to let the kids off the ship as long as they disguised themselves a bit.

"What kind of name is _Mercury_?" Sally questioned, fidgeting as he and Merry sat side by side getting their shaggy hair cut short.

Merry grinned brightly, wincing a bit under the less-than-gentle ministrations of their father as he wielded an old pair of clippers. "I like it," The sixteen-year-old chirped, "It's much better than _Solomon_. I think that's weirder. Why would you pick that?"

"Frankie said it was good because _Sol _sounds like _Sal_," The young man stated, shrugging and then flinching away from the razor in Dana's hand. "Gorramit, Mouse!" He cried, rubbing his nicked scalp, "Watch the blade! I'd like my blood to stay just where it is!"

"Sit still then," The tall brunette going-on blonde replied impatiently, shoving his brother back around, "And be grateful no one basted you in chemicals."

"We're all grateful that the peroxide is covering your natural odor, Mouse," Hunter supplied as she came flouncing onto the catwalk from the shuttle, jumping down most of the stairs and grinning at her brothers' slack-jawed expressions. "What do you think?" She asked, doing an elegant spin to show off her new look.

"You have a mohawk," Dana gaped.

"What happened to your freckles?" Sally questioned suspiciously, reaching out to smudge some makeup off his sister's now completely spotless face. He frowned down at his fingers before rubbing the greasy paint off on his pants. "Gross," He muttered darkly.

"You have a mohawk," Dana repeated, sounding like he was at the end of his rope.

"Where'd you get blue?" Merry asked excitedly, getting up with only half his head shaved to do an amusing monkey impression on the short fan of neon hair gelled straight up from the top of the girl's head, "I want blue!"

"You have a _mohawk_," Dana said again, at a loss for why no one else was seeing the problem with this.

"Miss Kaylee used powdered blueberry juice," Hunter announced, completely ignoring her oldest brother and giving Merry a blinding grin, "She's got grape, too."

"_You have a __mohawk_!" Dana shrieked.

"Shiny!" Merry cried out, tripping over his big feet running to find the ship's mechanic, "Be right back!"

The bay was silent for a moment.

"YOU HAVE A MOHAWK!!"

Hunter finally turned back to Dana and rolled her eyes, highlighting the fact that they were several shades of blue paler than her neon hair. "Chill, Mouse," She huffed, folding her arms over her chest, "It's faux. And I think it's cool." She turned to smile at Jayne, asking, "Don't you think it's cool, Dad?"

"Uh..." The merc artfully replied, "It's... er..."

Hunter's gaze narrowed dangerously.

"You're pretty," The big man answered resolutely, having found over the years that the phrase could help him out of some pretty impossible situations.

This one was no exception. Hunter beamed at him before turning back to Dana. "See?" She taunted in true know-it-all form, "I told you so."

Dana just stared at her for a few moments, unable to close his mouth. "You have a mohawk," He observed in a very small, helpless voice.

Rolling her eyes once more, Hunter turned and ventured back towards the shuttle, commenting, "I think I'll go find some intelligent conversation."

"Hey," Sally called after her, "What'd I do?" He pouted for a few moments before throwing an elbow into Dana's gut. "Get to it, fearless leader," The teen quipped impatiently, "My head's not going to shave itself."

Dana shook himself a bit and looked blankly around the bay. "I just had the weirdest dream," He commented, distractedly going back to cutting hair.

Sally and Jayne shared a chuckle.

xxXxx

"Stay in your assigned squads," Dana instructed, pacing as he tried to get used to how radically different all his siblings looked. Whether it was Hunter's startling blue _faux_hawk, Kelly's neat zigzag of something the first mate had called _cornrows_, Jan's chaotic jet black spikes, Frankie's platinum ringlets, Merry's bright violet fuzz, Murphy's pin-straight pink bob, Ace's rich brown waves, Sally's deep red stubble, or his own frosted crew-cut, the boy had to admit that, while the various styles had disturbed him at first, they really made the group appear nothing like their mug shots. And that was the point of the exercise, after all.

"I'm going to court marshal anyone who wanders off by themselves," He threatened before he had a chance to remember that it was not a card he could realistically play any longer. Hunter opened her mouth to point this out to her brother, but he cut her off, correcting, "What I mean is that I will kick your butt and volunteer you to babysit the triplets."

Sally smirked wickedly.

"Except you," Dana went on, prodding his taller younger brother in the chest, "I'll give _you _to Dr. Tam."

The smirk vanished in an instant and was replaced by a look of sheer terror.

Dana might have felt bad if he didn't think threats were necessary. His siblings were rowdy. They always had been. After being trapped on a spaceship for over a month, they were going to have quite a bit of steam to let off. He was hoping that he could keep property damage and arrests to a minimum.

"Buy essentials," The young man continued to lecture, perfectly aware that Hunter was making faces at his back as he paced before their ranks, "Clothes and personal hygiene items. No one is to come back with bags full of candy and toys. If you've gotten your essentials, you can use a reasonable amount for something fun but keep in mind that it can't take up too much room or irritate the other passengers, or I'm just going to take it away. Remember to call each other by our aliases."

"Can we vote to impeach Mouse?" Ace suggested with a teasing but completely serious smile, "It sounds to me like he's gone mad with power."

"Keep to the schedule," Dana continued, ignoring his bratty formerly-blonde seventeen-year-old sister as he scratched absently at the bleached stubble on his own head, "Rendezvous at 21:00, and remember to take evasive maneuvers to throw off any tails before you head to the prearranged location. Light off your bottle rockets straight up in the air if you get in any trouble. _Do not_ play tag with them." He glared straight at Jan and Hunter, remembering an episode back on Bastille when the pair got into one of the soldier's personal stash of holiday fireworks.

The pair put their strangely-colored heads together and snickered.

"Can we go now?" Murphy huffed impatiently, anxious to be off having fun with her buddy Gabe, who was waiting at the bottom of the landing ramp with the rest of the _Serenity_ crew, minus the captain. He'd chosen to stay behind, guarding his ship and spending some quality time with his baby girl, not to mention trying to finally think of a name he and Inara could agree on for their daughter. Melody was staying behind as well, confined to her room for a tantrum at breakfast involving Hunter and the last piece of toast.

Dana stared at his younger siblings long and hard before sighing in defeat. "Yes," He said, "We can go."

The words were barely out of his mouth before a cheer of excitement went up and they all went rushing for the exit. After a few brief moments to assemble the squads they'd decided on at lunch, they all moved off in different directions to explore the market place. Ace, Frankie, and Hunter went with Inara, Kaylee, River, and Zoe on a search for girlie things, while the doctor wandered off with his three skittish sons in tow. They hadn't quite been the same since Sally rigged their t-shirts to shock them at random intervals throughout the day.

Since their father was going to restock the ship's armory, Sally, Jan, and Kelly had jumped on the chance to go with him. After much pouting and pleading, Dana had agreed to let Murphy go with Gabe and his pop, as long as the oldest Cobb kid accompanied her, of course. They had to stay together in these types of situations and he need to be there to protect his sister if anything happened. Merry had decided to tag along since he wasn't a big fan of girlie things, ammo, or evil triplets.

"'S GO, MOUSE!!" The violet-haired teenager shouted, a bright grin splitting his face as he frolicked around in the crowded marketplace. He scooped Murphy up into one long arm and Gabe into the other, spinning happily as the pair squirmed and giggled and shouted, as Wash laughed and wheeled himself along in their wake.

Dana smirked, a bit of tension ebbing from his broad shoulders as he stepped into the sun.

xxXxx

Mal Reynolds could not get enough of his baby girl. No matter how much he held her and hugged her and kissed her, he never grew tired of his daughter. He didn't even mind when she kept him awake through the night cycle, happy to spend hours rocking her little body, cooing sweetly in her beautiful, perfect ears as he paced with her through the halls of his ship.

He was perfectly content to forgo a day of exploring in the crowded market in exchange for some quality time with his baby.

However, the little matter of little Melody Cobb had put a bit of a cramp on things. Not that the captain didn't love the girl, too, but she was holed up in her room, crying loud enough to be heard through most of the ship, louder every second that went by without receiving the attention she desired. The captain believed she must still be under the impression that her mama and papa were still in earshot, way she was carrying on.

"You know that hollerin' don't impress me much," Mal commented down through the open hatch door of her small bunk, "My girl's only a couple weeks old and she already knows how to pitch a fit."

After a few moments, Melody's small face appeared at the bottom of the ladder, scowling up at him. "Where's my papa?" She demanded.

"Everybody already left for shopping," Mal replied, bouncing his baby a little higher on his shoulder as he squatted in the hallway, "It's just us, bit, and I wager we'll get along just fine long as you keep in mind that it ain't me you're mad at."

The little girl huffed, folding her arms over her tiny chest in a gesture of defiance. "It ain't fair!" She crowed, "I don't want no brothers and sisters! Nobody asked me if they could come!"

Smirking, the good captain answered, "Honey, it ain't the sorta thing anybody coulda predicted. Like it or not, they're your brothers and sisters, and they're gonna be with us for awhile yet. You need to learn to get along."

"I don't _wanna_!" Melody pouted, stamping off back into her room and out of Mal's sight. He sighed deeply and stood, grateful for the quiet.

On cue, his nameless daughter began to shriek.

xxXxx

Jayne watched three out of five of his strong, handsome sons move through the weapons dealer's cluttered basement storeroom and couldn't help grinning proudly. Sally was critically sighting the barrel of a veritable cannon, making tiny adjustments in some of the parts to create the truest shot; Jan had a bowie knife balanced perfectly and effortlessly on his left index finger as he used his right hand to sort and catalogue a tray of ammunition. At a table at the far end of the room, Kelly was rapidly dismantling and rebuilding a handgun as the weapons dealer timed the boy with an occasional impressed whistle.

"Damn, Cobb," The squat man commented, pushing thinning mud-colored hair out of his sharp little eyes, "Where'd you get these boys and are there more?"

"Fruit 'a my loins, Davis," Jayne replied, a distinct note of satisfaction in his deep voice as he walked over and clapped Kelly on the back, "But you don't want 'em workin' for ya. They ain't nice like I am. They'll put more'n a few bullet holes in ya when ya try'n stiff 'em their pay."

Kelly giggled, playing along with a manic smile.

"Aw, Jayne," The squat man whined, "Why ya gotta be like that? I made it up to ya, didn't I?"

"We'll see," The merc responded, "You got anything you can give me a good deal on in bulk? I got a small army to equip."

Sally and Jan glanced at each other and shared elated grins.

xxXxx

"Alice?" Zoe called, knocking on the changing room where Ace had retreated almost a half hour ago with an armful of clothing, "You alright in there, honey?"

There was no answer. _Serenity_'s first mate shared worried glances with Inara before sliding a small pin out of her hair and making quick work of the door's flimsy lock.

The room was empty.

"_Ta ma de_."

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

jien tah-duh guay - like hell

go-se - crap

bi zui - shut up

pi-gu - ass

ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng - frog-humping son-of-a-bitch

ta ma de - damnit

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

C.O. - commanding officer


	9. Part 9: Ace's High

Part 9 - Ace's High

Dana almost didn't hear the comm crackle in his pocket. He was too busy being happy, smiling as he watched Merry, Murphy, and Gabe chase each other around the marketplace. Sure, the teenager was carrying pretty much everything the group had brought and his fair skin was blistering in the bright afternoon light--space had made him forget just how prone to sunburn he was--but that seemed pretty trivial considering the fact that his family was free.

Every since he'd found out he had a family, all Dana could do was think about taking care of it. He'd never had one before Bastille; his mother was a distant specter in his memory, a shaky, skeletal brunette who dragged him behind herself with too-fast steps and hid him in closets while she worked. She abandoned him without even a backwards glance. Dana knew she couldn't have loved him in any real way.

And then Ace snuck into his barrack one night, told him that she was his sister. Ever since, he'd had a family, one he would die to protect without a second thought.

"_Daniel_," The comm in his front pocket chirped, staticy and curt. Dana almost forgot himself for a moment, forgot that, while they were on this world and possibly within Alliance ears, his name was Daniel Samir Morgan and he had the forged ident papers to prove it.

"Yes, Ma'am," The boy replied, holding the comm close to his mouth as he juggled the bags of clothing.

After a brief, crackle-filled pause, _Serenity_'s first mate's voice came out of the device once more, reporting, "_Alice took off. We can't find her._"

Dana's heart skipped a beat. The teen began mentally kicking himself; he should've known Ace would pull something like this. His sister had never been one for following rules. In fact, she seemed to enjoy going out of her way to break as many of them as she could, as often as she could manage. Another thing being cooped up on a spaceship seemed to have made him forget was Ace's penchant for charging headlong into trouble.

"What's your location?" Dana questioned urgently into the comm, motioning for Merry to come over to him. Zoe told him a cross street and the name of the store they were in. Having memorized a map of the city in preparation for the day's excursion, the young man was able to quickly declare, "I'll be there in seven minutes."

"What's the word, Mouse?" Merry beamed, broad face split by a carefree smile, his cheeks pink from running.

"Alice went AWOL," Dana reported somberly, handing over the shopping, "I'm going to track her down. I need you to keep an eye on Molly." He spared a fond glance at Murphy as she ducked around a vendor, laughing with Gabe hot on her heels. The teen's gaze then moved to the wheelchair-bound pilot looking at bouquets of flowers several stands down the crowded market row. "And let Wash know," Dana added, receiving a brief nod from Merry before he took off in the direction of Ace's last known location.

"Well I'll be damned, seven minutes on the dot," Zoe remarked as the young man appeared in the doorway of the clothing store a short time later.

Having sprinted about a half dozen blocks, Dana was winded and doubled over, his hands on his knees. "What... happened?" He panted.

"Don't know," Zoe answered, nodding towards the back of the warehouse-like store, "Your sister went into the changin' room with an armful a' clothes and didn't come out. Nobody saw her leave."

Dana took a brief moment to catch his breath, looking around at the racks of cheap, colorful clothing. "Felice and Harper?" He asked, referring to Frankie and Hunter by their aliases.

"'Nara's helpin' Felice try on dresses," Zoe replied, "River and Harper are off by shoes. Neither of 'em said they knew anything."

"I'll talk to Harper," Dana stated, taking off in the direction of the wall of footwear, "She'd be the only one of the two to be lying."

"Boots," Dana heard Miss River recommending as he approached, "Captain Daddy's orders." He rounded the corner to the shoe section just in time to watch Hunter make a face. "I don't like boots," She insisted stubbornly, "They always give me blisters. Can't I just find some sandals instead?"

Miss River vehemently shook her head, long dark hair flicking back and forth with the motion. "Boots," She pronounced once more, "Sandals will not stand up to future sole trauma. Kaylee will feel bad for leaving her tools on the floor and Captain Daddy will say he told you so."

Again, Hunter pouted, but her pretty face lit up once she noticed her brother coming towards her. "Hey, Mouse!" She chirped, waving and quite uncharacteristically bubbly, "You want to see the dress I got? Miss Inara said it was really cute on me!"

"Later," Dana replied, fixing the girl with a stern stare, "I need to you to tell me where Alice went."

Hunter scowled, obstinately folding her arms across her thin chest as she insisted, "I already said I don't know!"

"Harper, please," Her brother responded, more an order than a plea, "This isn't a joke and she's in a lot of danger. She shouldn't be off on her own. Do you want to be responsible for something bad happening? For Alice being hurt or-" He dropped his voice a few decibel levels "-captured?"

The girl's difficult expression stayed firmly in place. "I don't know where Alice is!" She declared. Her rant probably would've continued and taken on a life of its own had River not interrupted, leaning over to whisper in Hunter's ear.

Hunter's face fell. "But I really don't know," The girl pouted between her brother and stepmother, finally giving in, "She just said that she had a lead on a poker game and was going to go and that I shouldn't worry because she knew what she was doing."

"_Ai-yah __tyen__-ah_!" Dana swore softly, tugging at his frosted crewcut and feeling quite ridiculous on top of pissed off, "That girl..." He gave Hunter a stern look, demanding, "Do you know who told her about the game?"

"I'm not sure," The girl with the bright blue fauxhawk said sheepishly, withering under her brother's intimidating glare, "She was talking to this guy in the last store we were in."

"What guy?" Dana interrupted, beyond furious but trying to keep himself in control, "Tell me what guy!"

"Mouse," He heard Frankie yell, the girl arriving beside Hunter a few moments. The former brunette now platinum blonde sixteen-year-old fixed him with a disapproving but fireless stare. "Calm down," She ordered, placing an arm around Hunter's shoulders, "What's going on?"

The young man took a breath. "I need to know about the guy Alice was talking to in the last store," He stated, fighting to keep the momentary calm he'd managed to find.

"He was just some guy," Frankie answered, honey-brown eyes wide and worried, "He was following me and it was making me really uncomfortable so I asked Alice to get him to go away. She talked to him for a few minutes and then he left."

"What'd he look like?" Dana pressed.

"I don't know, young," The girl said, "Probably only a few years older than you. He had brown hair and was wearing a black t-shirt with some kind of lizard or dragon logo on it... you think Alice is in trouble?"

"She found a poker game, Frank. I don't see how she could not be," Dana hissed beneath his breath, momentarily slipping up and using her real name and kicking himself for it. He was frustrated and out of his mind with fear and he just wanted to know that his sister was alright.

Frankie's eyes grew impossibly wider. "I'll go with you," She said, "We'll find her. It'll be ok."

"I want to come!" Hunter yelped as her older siblings turned to leave, "I can help, too!"

"No," Dana snapped, "Just stay with Miss River."

Frankie watched the girl over her shoulder, her expression guilty and dejected. Dana didn't look, but only because he knew what he'd see and knew he it would make him feel even worse.

xxXxx

"This is idiotic," Jan complained, his face heating up as a pair of pretty girls looked at the box he was carrying and began to giggle. "Scratch that," He added crossly, "This is _humiliating_."

"Nah, try pure genius," Sally declared, grinning handsomely at the same pair of girls and turning their giggles to starry-eyed sighs. Being on the ship so long had almost made him forget just how much fun girls who weren't related to him could be. The young man couldn't wait to sneak away and enjoy a few of them. Screw Mouse and his rules. Sal knew he could handle himself. "It's just like the laundry cart scheme we pulled breaking out," He said, "No one's going to know that we're really carrying an arsenal."

Jan continued to pout, stating, "We could've pulled the same plan without having to use gorram _doll_ boxes. I think it's more suspicious for a bunch of guys to be carrying _dolls_ around."

"I think they're shiny!" Kelly chirped, practically skipping to keep up with his brothers' and father's long strides, "Mine says that it can move and talk and really eat food and it comes with a little toy cat that meows and a whole bunch of different color wigs that you can change any time you want!" He had a brilliant smile and his blonde curls were woven into rows of tight, zigzagging braids. They made his head look tiny and his hazel eyes huge.

Jan groaned, flicking black spikes off his sweaty forehead.

"Come on, boys," Jayne called, gruff but fond, "Quit dawdlin'. I want these boxes on the ship quick as we can get 'em there. No sense in wanderin' with this junk."

"What do you think happened to the dolls?" Kelly mused, genuinely concerned, "I hope Mr. Davis found good homes for them 'cuz it would be really sad if he just threw them out or put them on a shelf somewhere. They're supposed to get played with and it would be _really, really _sad!"

Jayne wasn't quite sure how to handle the remark. Kelly's brothers just snorted. "I'm sure they're fine, Kelvin," Sally reassured, calling him by his assigned alias, "They probably got nice little girls looking after them, brushing their hair and changing their diapers and stuff like that. Don't worry your freaky little head over it."

Jan momentarily forgot that he was upset about having to carrying the doll boxes as camouflage for their weapons purchase and began to crack up quite ridiculously. People in the vicinity, including the two giggling girls, stared at him like he was insane.

"Keep it together now, Jon," Jayne scolded, though there was no heat in his voice and he was having some problems keeping from smiling, "Weren't that funny."

"Kel's got a freaky head," The teen laughed, "It's so true."

"No it's not!" Kelly argued, scrawny legs pumping fast in order to keep up, "Sol was just joking! My head is not freaky!"

"Is to."

"Is not!"

"Is to."

"Is not!"

"Is to."

"Is not!"

"Boy," Jayne growled, hiding his chuckle, "Quit teasin' your brother. His head ain't any freakier than yours."

Jan laughed so hard that he had to stop walking, leaning against a low wall to stay upright. "What if acknowledge the _extreme_ freakiness of my own head?" He cackled breathlessly, "Then what?"

Jayne couldn't help it. He laughed. Damn if the boy didn't remind him of himself at that age, cocky and smart-mouthed. He knew he shouldn't encourage the behavior but, hell, weren't too often the kid was just aloud to have fun, to act like a normal kid instead of a soldier.

The merc quickly got a handle on his amusement, going serious and scolding, "Don't you sass me. Now pick up that crate and get a move on 'fore we start attractin' attention."

Of course, one of only two Alliance patrols in the expansive marketplace rounded a corner ahead and began to march straight towards them. "_Ta ma de_," Jayne growled, trying his best to look inconspicuous as Jan completely stopped laughing and Kelly skittishly moved to shield himself behind Sally's imposing frame. The giant in their midst remained stoic, cool and unwavering.

The soldiers moved past them with barely a glance and marched out of sight.

A collective sigh of relief went through the group.

"Alright," Jayne muttered quietly, "Get a move on."

For the remainder of the walk, there wasn't much else to say.

xxXxx

The young man said that his name was Leon, after the third time Dana punched him in the head. The first two times, all he did was mouth off and swear.

By the fourth punch, they were in business. Dana could hardly understand Leon, what with the busted, bloody mouth, but he managed to deduce that the brunette had agreed them to lead them to the location of the poker game. In between blustering threats, of course.

"My brother's gonna stomp you twerps!" Leon grumbled, jamming his fingers up his puffy, bleeding nostrils as he glared at Dana, "Just wait 'n see! He's a big deal on this world! You ain't never gonna get one step inside 'fore he knows what's what and has the both of you shot dead! You hear me?! _Shot dead_!! Blood 'n guts splattered all over!! They'll be scrapin' the pavement for weeks!! It'll be a _massacre_, man!!"

"Mouse," Frankie murmured, trying and failing not to look deeply disturbed by the imagery, "Can you make him stop talking, please?"

Quick to oblige her, Dana grabbed the young man by the neck and lifted him clean off his feet. "Stop. Talking." The imposing former-cadet snarled, squeezing all the breath from Leon's body with just one effortless flex of his paw-like hand. He let Leon kick and flail for a few moments before finally placing him back on his feet, shoving him forward.

Leon stopped talking.

All three walked a few more steps in silence before Frankie quietly stated, "Thank you, Mouse."

The angle of the planet's sun grew steep as the orange fireball plummeted towards the horizon. Leon led them farther away from the marketplace, into a dirty slum of tall, narrow buildings. Everything was caked with a sheen of sticky red dust.

Dana spotted their destination a block before they arrived. It was the only structure on the street that had an armed guard standing at the stone steps of its entrance. He hustled Leon into the nearest alleyway. "What's the layout inside?" The Mouse demanded impatiently, "How many guards? Are there cameras? What floor is the game on?"

"Screw you," Leon responded, bravely spitting at Dana's feet.

Ten seconds later... "OW! OK! OK! You're breaking my arm, man!"

There were few regular guards, just the ones at the front door and two more outside Leon's brother's office. There were cameras on the entrance and outside a large safe inside Leon's brother's office, on the fourth floor. The game was on the third.

Having no more use for Leon, Dana dispatched him with an efficient sleeper hold and ungentle toss behind a large dumpster. With that done, the burly young man turned to his sister.

"Extraction mission," He ordered gruffly, "Shock and awe."

"Mouse," Frankie stated, slightly disturbed by the flat affect in the young man's voice, the hard look in his blue eyes, "Couldn't we just-"

"Can you handle the mission?" Dana interrupted sternly, "Or would you like to be the lookout?"

Frankie winced. Lookout on their schemes was usually reserved for whoever was pissing off Mouse the most at any given moment. Given that it was just the two of them, his suggestion was quite insulting. "I can handle it," She murmured, hurt by the threat, telling herself that Dana was only being mean because he was so stressed and worried and scared.

The young man nodded and set out towards the building. Frankie trailed nervously in his wake.

The guards never knew what hit them.

xxXxx

She liked buttons, and, as long as she kept away from the ones that got his boat off the ground, Malcolm Reynolds didn't see the problem with letting his girl play with them. Sitting at _Serenity_'s helm, he supported the baby's frail neck in his large hands, smelling her beautiful dark hair and murmuring in her tiny, perfect ears while she played. The little bit had the most enchanting giggle, pounding her fists and kicking her pudgy feet. She seemed to be having one of the grandest times of her short life.

The console gave a shrill, rather worrisome beep.

Mal glanced up at the display on the navigation screen.

"Huh," He remarked.

xxXxx

"_MERCURY_!!!!"

Merry nearly had a heart attack in the space of the three seconds it took him to get from the front of the store to his screaming baby sister at the back. Darting through the racks in the small curio shop was a challenge. It was only through the teen's immense inherent grace that he managed it without bringing the shelves of fragile, interesting things crashing spectacularly to the floor.

He found Murphy huddled in a corner, pink hair brightly giving away her hiding spot behind an ugly umbrella stand. Gabe looked confused but concerned, trying to comfort her, to coax her out. "What is it?" Merry demanded, looking around for signs of danger, "What's wrong?"

The girl brought up one shaking hand to point at a glass tank across the room, her eyes wide as she declared, "It's a _monster_!!"

Merry peered cautiously inside the clear tank, at first only seeing a pile of rags and a buzzing heat lamp. But, inside the nest of old t-shirts, was a... well, it wasn't a monster. At least the violet-haired youth didn't think it was. The creature was much too small.

He had to admit that it did look quite odd, like some kind of hairless pink rodent with a rather long, beefy tail. It was rather small, and, instead of eyes, it just had vague dark lumps in its pointed skull. It's spindly, clawed limbs undulated as the thing writhed pathetically. Merry read the display tag on the table.

"Molly," He laughed, "It's just a cat."

Distrustful, the girl peeked out from her hiding place and insisted, "That is _not_ a cat!! Harper showed me pictures of cats on the cortex and they were fuzzy and cute!! _Not_ scary!!"

"Well, this one's just a baby," Her brother argued brightly, "Baby things have a tendency to look a bit strange. Remember how Captain and Miss Inara's baby's head was shaped funny for the first few days?"

Indeed remembering, Murphy chanced to venture a little further out of her sanctuary. "Are you _sure_ it's not a monster?" She questioned somberly, "Because it _looks_ like a monster. It could be a _baby_ monster."

"Nah," Merry countered, "Tag just says 'newborn kitten found abandoned under porch. Free to good home.' I think if it was a monster, they'd have to put that on the tag."

Murphy frowned, "It got abandoned?"

Merry blinked, already knowing where the girl was headed. "No way, kiddo," He insisted urgently, trying to backtrack as quickly as humanly possible, "Mouse would _kill me_."

She pouted, her bottle-blue eyes wide and glistening as her pert bottom lip trembled.

"_Ai-yah __tyen__-ah_," The teen swore, helpless where that sweet little face was concerned, "Mouse is going to kill me..."

xxXxx

"I think it's safe to say that Mouse is going to kill you," Jan reported, bright but bitter as he followed Sally out of the tattoo parlor and towards the rendezvous point, "Not to mention Dad. And I'm going to laugh because it'll serve you right for being such a jerk."

"Zip it, pipsqueak," Sally countered with a broad grin, gingerly flexing his chest muscles as the fresh ink stretching from collarbone to collarbone burned, "Mouse said we could get something fun but it couldn't be big or annoying. What I got isn't either. Besides, he didn't say anything about tattoos."

"Then why couldn't I get one?" Jan continued to pout, "This is so unfair! I have just as much right as you!"

Scoffing quite vocally, Sally scratched at the short, dark red stubble on the top of his head and declared, "Sure, shrimp. You can have one when you grow up."

"You're such a hypocrite!" The fifteen-year-old argued angrily, lanky arms folded across his chest and his cobalt eyes narrowed on the path in front of them.

Sally laughed, "Big word. You've been spending too much time with Harper."

Speaking of the devil, the girl appeared around a corner coming from the other direction, flanked by Miss River, Miss Zoe, Miss Kaylee, and Miss Inara. She was extremely upset, grouchy to the point of being unresponsive to obvious efforts by Miss Kaylee to engage her in conversation.

Jan waved, hurrying over to his sister. Sally hung back a bit, remembering that Ace and Frankie were supposed to be with that group and wondering where the two were.

"What's going on?" Sally questioned as he fell into step beside Miss Zoe, "Where are Alice and Felice?"

Curt, concerned but irritated, the first mate replied, "Alice ran off to a poker game, so I called Daniel, and he and Felice went after her. I haven't heard anything in about an hour and none of 'em are answerin' their comms." She paused a moment before adding, "I'm sure your brother's got it handled. Where're Jayne and Kelvin? Ain't you sposta be with 'em?"

"Jayne took Kel to the rendezvous point early," Sally replied, frowning, "Mouse picked a park, you know, 'cuz Kel still hasn't been sleeping too good and he figured that the runt could blow off some steam. What do you mean they went to get her? Did they think she was in danger or was Mouse just pissed about her abandoning the mission?"

"Daniel seemed to be of the mind that Alice was gonna get herself in trouble if she was left to her own devices," Zoe answered flatly.

xxXxx

The guards at the front entrance went down without a commotion or much of a fight. Individuals with lifetimes of intensive military training weren't generally challenged by low-level thugs with hardly a brain cell to spare.

Dana and Frankie met no more obstacles as they traveled through the building. By the time the pair reached the room where the poker game was being held, all of its inhabitants had already been efficiently knocked out and tied up. Ace was not amongst their numbers. Dana was growing more and more agitated and set out to search the rest of the building for his wayward sister.

On the fourth floor, unconscious guards lying outside an impressive set of dark wood doors prompted Dana to burst inside. There, he found Ace, finally, along with an unconscious mob boss, a recently cracked safe, and two-million credits.

"Mouse," The girl beamed, waving a handful of the cash she was in the process of counting, "You're just in time! Find and bag and help me carry this, ok?"

He just stood in the doorway, speechless, not seeing the money because the room reeked of high-proof alcohol and dizzying smoke. Ace took a sip from a glass of clear, viscous vodka, neat, and a pull off a stubby hand-rolled cigarette that he was fairly certain wasn't filled with tobacco.

"Felice," Dana managed to state, his voice tense and barely level. His currently-blonde sister peeked cautiously around his shoulder. "I want the surveillance footage wiped," He ordered, not looking at her because he couldn't take his eyes off of Ace.

"Mouse-"

"Go do it."

"Ya, but-"

"_Now_."

Frankie stopped arguing, turning away so that no one would see the tears she was desperately trying to hold back. She didn't like it when her brothers and sisters fought, or when Dana was upset enough to actually yell. The girl walked off down the hall, following wires to the room where the recording equipment was kept.

Alone with Dana, Ace hardly spared him a glance, continued counting money and drinking and smoking, all with a rather self-satisfied smile on her pretty face. Her hair was dyed a rich brown and fell past her shoulders in lazy waves.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dana demanded, continually having to talk himself back from a full-blown meltdown.

The girl smirked. Going by the insaneness of the smirk, Dana was certain that the girl's metal state was severely altered. "Don't be mad, Mouse," She said, placing a neat stack of bills on the desk before starting to count out another, "I heard about the game and I knew it was too good to pass up. You know I'm the best and I tripled the money _he _gave me. But when I was ready to leave, the bastards wouldn't pay up. Someone pulled out a gun and, before I knew it-" she gestured to the opulent office and piles of money "-here I was. I figure with this much, we'll be set for life. And we won't have to rely on _him_."

Dana closed his eyes.

Dana took a deep breath.

Dana counted to ten.

Dana really _wanted_ to shoot the vodka out of Ace's hand when she picked it up for another drink. He knew he could but didn't. He loved his sister far too much to put her in danger, no matter how angry he was.

Still maintaining some control, the young man settled for growling, "I don't even know where to _begin_."

"So don't," Ace replied, laughing giddily, her pupils wide and dark, "Don't, Mouse, ok? I know you're pissed but this worked out really well for us. Why can't you just be happy?"

He couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'm sorry I scrapped your precious mission!" Ace defended, sarcastic but fierce, trying very hard to get her brother on her side, "But the game was just too good to pass up! I took a chance and look what happened! All this money is ours! We can pay our own way now!"

Dana said nothing for a long time.

"Is it because I'm stealing?" Ace questioned, beginning to squirm a bit under the utter disappointment and disgust in her brother's stare, "I know you don't like the idea, but it's not like I'm stealing from a church or something! They're criminals, Mouse! They probably stole all this money first and I'm just taking it back! You know, putting it towards a good cause!"

Still, Dana said nothing. He would have liked nothing more than to kick Ace's ass and drag the girl out by her hair. On any other occasion, he probably would have. But he couldn't force himself to venture any further into the cloud of smoke and alcohol vapors. The sharp smell was making his stomach churn and his skin crawl.

He remembered his mother, how she smelled the exact same--the chemical sting blurred at the edges by burning herbs--how she never loved him and left him on the fed station steps without a backwards glance. Momentarily, he hated Ace for making him remember, smoking and drinking just like she did, not caring about him just like she did.

"Gorramit, Mouse," Ace grumbled, "Quit acting like an idiot and say something!"

_"Walk faster, you little idiot! You already made me late!"_

_Her hair was a rich brown and fell past her shoulders in lazy waves. _

Shaking himself lightly from a mental fog, Dana slowly forced out, "I don't care what you do. Just be ready to leave in two minutes. I'll be downstairs." He turned and left, before he said or did something he was going to later regret.

Dana loved his sister. He wasn't sure how to cope when he found himself hating her, too.

xxXxx

They swarmed.

"Mouse! Sol got a _tattoo_!"

"Mouse! Molly got a _kitten_!"

"Mouse! Harper bought _thongs_!"

Dana closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

"He wouldn't let me get one, too! That's _so_ unfair! Tell him that I can get one, too!"

"It's _so_ ugly! I _hate_ cats and I'll bet the _captain_ does, too! He's going to be mad if he sees it! Tell Molly's she's got to leave the ugly little thing!"

"That skinny little ginger ass of hers should be behind _at least_ two layers at all times! This planet is completely depraved! Tell her she has to take them back and buy herself some real underpants!!"

Dana counted to ten.

"My ginger ass and what goes on it are exactly _none_ of your business! Mouse, come on, the cat is creepy! It just wriggles and cries and it doesn't even have any gorram hair! You can't trust things that don't have hair! I mean, look at Dr. Tam!"

"Where are we on my tattoo? Come _on_, Mouse! The place closes at 22:00 and I need time to pick out a design! OW! HEY! Get off me you tattooed jer-mph!"

"Don't make me get rid of the kitty, Mouse! She's an orphan, too! She needs us to take care of her! The captain will understand! Miss Kaylee says he's really a nice man!"

Dana gritted his teeth.

"Mercury should've had the sense and balls to tell you _no_ in the first place!"

"HEY!"

"Sol! Get out of my bag! Leave my underwear alone, you big ape!"

"You'll be lucky if I don't burn these sorry scraps! Mouse, back me up here!... Mouse?... Mouse?"

Dana finally opened his eyes, gazing around at his siblings' expectant faces.

With one hand, Sally was holding a mass of diversely colored, stringy bits of fabric high over Hunter's fauxhawked head; he had the other hand over Jan's mouth, his arm keeping the smaller boy's head trapped. Both Hunter and Jan were violently protesting their treatments with little success.

Murphy was nearby, looking near tears and cradling a little swaddled bundle against her tiny chest while Merry squirmed guiltily behind her.

On the lawn beyond all of the, in the dim light of the streetlamps, Jayne wrestled with Kelly and the Tam triplets while Wash and the doctor looked on. Miss Kaylee, Miss Zoe, Miss Inara, and Miss River had their attentions split between the two groups.

And behind him, Frankie was juggling Ace and a briefcase full of stolen money. Ace was giggling deliriously.

"Mouse?" Sally demanded angrily, struggling to keep both Hunter and Jan in control, "Aren't you going to do something?"

Dana thought about it for a few moments before flatly replying, "Nope." He pushed through the stunned group and walked alone in the direction of _Serenity_.

xxXxx

"Let's see the ink."

Sally startled out of his deep reverie to see his father standing over him.

"Huh?" The young man grunted intelligently.

Jayne sat down beside him on the couch. At some point, the room been abandoned except by the two of them. It was just as well. Conversation had been strained and awkward. Everyone had been acutely aware of both Mouse's and Ace's absences from dinner, as well as the reasons behind them: Mouse was brooding; Ace was unconscious.

"Your tattoo," Jayne clarified sagely, "Heard you went 'n got one. Let's see it."

"Oh," Sally mumbled, "Ya. Sure." He peeled his shirt over his head.

Vivid red and gold stood out starkly from his dark olive skin, an eagle's spread wings stretching from collarbone to collarbone across the young man's broad chest. Its open, cawing beak and bared talons marked the top and bottom of his sternum.

Jayne gave a low whistle as he inspected the art. "That's a fine one," He observed. As he looked closer, the spiking lines that made up the detail in the feathers began to take the shape of Chinese characters. "What's it say?" He asked his son, squinting to read the words.

Turning the slightest bit red, Sally pointed to each as he listed, "Confidence, courage, loyalty, love, luck, joy, wisdom, passion, harmony, freedom, serenity."

Jayne's mind jumped to a startling conclusion. "You draw it yourself?"

Sally nodded, growing even more embarrassed.

"It's real nice," The merc complimented, deeply impressed but determined not to make a big scene. Sally seemed red enough over the whole thing. "Didn't know you drew," Jayne stated.

"Not a lot," The young man replied, looking down to inspect his own artwork, "Wasn't exactly something the good old Alliance could fit in between artillery and martial arts. But I did sometimes, when I could." He grinned across at his father, "And your wife was leaving pencils and drawing pads in my bedroll so I couldn't resist."

Jayne chuckled fondly. "Ya, that sounds like somethin' she'd do... you're pretty talented."

"Thanks," Sally muttered, "It seemed a lot cooler before Ace's stunt. Now I think Mouse is going to kill me when he finds out... I've never seen him this pissed before."

Jayne was solemnly silent for a few moments before asking, "Your sister got a habit 'a doin' that kinda stuff? Drinkin' and gettin' high?"

Shrugging, Sally answered, "Not really." He thought for a few moments before smiling and adding, "Mouse always says that she's just got more balls than brains... but she couldn't get in too much trouble on Bastille. I guess it's different now that we're out."

"Sure is," His father agreed, "I know Dana's pretty much in charge 'a your bunch. He talk to you 'bout drinkin'?"

"I know he doesn't like it," The young man stated, "The rest of us used to have some fun messing with the guards when they came in drunk or hungover. You know, make loud noises, flash the lights, move furniture and equipment. Mouse always stayed as far away from them as he possibly could." Sally's mouth froze momentarily in a tense, colorless line. "One tried to start something with him once. Mouse was around thirteen. He freaked pretty bad. Nearly took the guy's head off. Me and Ace ended up holding him back and talked the soldier out of reporting it. He never did tell us what exactly set him off."

Once more, Jayne got a powerful urge to track down, maim, and murder every single person who'd ever harmed his children. "Seems like somethin' Ace should'a thought about 'fore she ran off 'n did what she did," He observed.

Sally smirked. "Well she wouldn't be Ace if she did that."

xxXxx

The next afternoon, Ace was hungover and miserable. "Has he said anything to you?" She questioned quietly, trailing behind Sally as they made their way towards the galley.

"Not a word," The burly young man replied, a lot louder than necessary.

Ace winced, holding her aching head. "I didn't think he'd make such a big deal about it," She muttered, "I didn't think-"

"That's right," Sally cut her off, "You didn't. And now you'd just better make it right."

"What's wrong with Mouse?" Murphy asked as she crept up on the conversation, holding a wriggling bundle close to her heart, "He seems really mad and he wouldn't talk to me. Is he mad about my kitty? I didn't mean to make him mad at me."

Laying a broad hand on her bright pink hair, Sally absentmindedly replied, "It's nothing you did, little one. He just... uh, ate something that didn't agree with him."

Murphy frowned, huffing, "That's not true! You shouldn't lie to me! I'm not _stupid_!"

"We don't think you're stupid," Ace insisted feebly, "Mouse is upset with _me_, not you."

"Because you abandoned the mission," Murphy declared knowingly.

Ace cringed. "Ya, that," She mumbled, feeling wretched and queasy.

"Hunter says you were high," Murphy accused innocently, "What's high?"

"It means very bad," Sally quickly explained, glaring daggers at Ace, "And mean and selfish and-"

"Alright!" Ace growled, face ashen, "I get the gorram point!"

"Do you?" Sally fired back, dark cerulean eyes blazing, "Do you really?"

The girl frowned apologetically, staring at her feet and trying to keep from puking. "I just wanted to have some fun," She argued, voice weak and ridden with guilt, "And I got all that money for us. That should count for something."

Sally rolled his eyes.

"Number One no longer wishes to be angry with you."

All three of the kids jumped nearly out of their skins when River suddenly appeared before them. Her dark hair fell limply in her frowning face. A pink sundress hung off her waifish body. Hunter stood at her side, hip cocked in attitude and annoyance.

The woman locked gazes with Ace, sternly ordering, "Return your keratin strands to their proper hue and do not belittle the big brother. Exercise greater temperance or disciplinary actions will be taken."

River turned and left, her head held high.

The Cobb kids were silent for a few moments.

"Uh..." Ace drawled, not currently in possession of enough brain cells to decipher the statement, "What?"

"Dye your hair back," Hunter translated brightly, only a little more of a know-it-all brat than usual, "And don't call Mouse names. And keep off the sauce or Miss River's going to kick your butt."

xxXxx

The way the kids closed rank around their leader was slightly creepifying. Something was wrong with Dana. The others knew that but couldn't figure out what, so they hovered close to him, watched and waited, trying to help their brother back from whatever dark place he'd strayed.

Mal Reynolds observed the scene in his bay from _Serenity_'s catwalk. Merry, Frankie, Jan, and Kelly were keeping a close eye on Dana as he bench pressed far more than was healthy to do without a spotter handy. He'd vehemently and repeatedly refused Merry's offers to be one.

"What is up with that boy?" Mal mumbled quietly to himself, only belatedly realizing just how attached he'd become to the little ragtag band, how concerned he was over their wellbeing. He swore under his breath, glad Adhara wasn't around to hear.

The man grinned. His baby girl's button-pushing had yielded an old star that went by the same name and it was like a bolt of pure inspiration. He and Inara had finally be able to come to an agreement on what to call their child. Granted, it wasn't actually much of a compromise, but it worked.

'Adhara' was an easy one, once they got it. The girl picked that out herself, after all. They'd managed to combine 'Isra' and 'Asha-- neither of which Mal was too wild about but Inara had loved ever since Frankie suggested them,--into the name 'Israsha.' And since Inara got to fit in two of her name choices, Mal got to fit in two of his own, picking 'Mari' after his mother and 'Elizabeth' after his grandmother to result in 'Maribeth.' They'd decided months ago that the girl would get both their surnames and Inara stuck to the agreement, allowing 'Serra' to become yet another middle name since they would be married soon.

All together, his baby girl came to be known as Adhara Israsha Maribeth Serra Reynolds.

It had a certain poetry to it, the captain thought proudly.

Zoe'd had a grand old time picking fun, saying that the poor kid was gonna take 'til she was near grown to remember the whole thing.

Well, his first mate and her husband had had Gabriel Soren picked out for their son practically since the first bought of morning sickness. She didn't know a thing about having to argue for months and months with a gorram stubborn woman whose opinions on just about everything ran counter to his own.

Besides, the crew was already hard at work coming up with nicknames. Zoe seemed partial to Dhara; Wash preferred Asha; Kaylee liked Ady-Beth; Jayne insisted on Aims; Frankie quietly called the baby Izzy.

A commotion sounded from the corridor that lead to Tam family quarters. Shortly after, the triplets stumbled into the bay. They were splattered all over in suspiciously permanent-looking green paint.

Something small and vaguely feline went streaking through with a yowl. Gabe and Murphy were hot on its heels.

Sally and Hunter appeared quite vocally at the other end of the catwalk. They were wrestling over the underwear again.

Sally had a lighter.

Hunter had a taser.

Ace entered behind them, looking ready to puke.

Mal sighed, moving off to restore order and sanity to his rutting boat.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

ai-yah tyen-ah - merciless hell

ta ma de - damnit

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Adhara - the Arabic name of a star in the constellation Canis Major, meaning "maidens;" a Hebrew name meaning "exalted/praised;" in Tantric belief, refers to a base or center of spiritual power.

Israsha - a combination of the Arabic name Isra, meaning "night traveler," and the Hindi name Asha, meaning "hope."

Maribeth - a combination of the Hebrew name Mari--a form of Mary meaning "sea of bitterness," "wished for child," "rebelliousness," or "beloved"--and the Hebrew name Elizabeth, meaning "God is an oath."

Ta-freakin-da, peoples. Sorry for the long wait. School sucks. I hope I did the Mal-ling justice with the name. Haha, I figured that he and Inara would be exactly the type of parents to stick their kid with something ridiculously long because they couldn't agree on any one. Anyways, reviews are my antidrug. I don't think you want to be responsible for me not getting enough of that, do you?


	10. Part 10: Swear

Part 10 - Swear

Captain Malcolm Reynolds lay in the middle of the bed he shared with his future wife, their beautiful daughter dozing on his chest. The man was mulling over the previous events of that afternoon and trying hard to figure out how in the gorram hell he'd so thoroughly lost control of his boat.

He'd come to the conclusion that it was all Murphy's fault.

That gorram _cute_ little girl. Her big, bright eyes and trembling pout. She'd been the last straw.

After rounding up the paint-covered Tam triplets and sitting them down to prevent too much more of a mess, after breaking up Sally and Hunter, explaining, once again, how dangerous wielding lighters and tasers inside a spaceship was, after growling at Jan to stop rutting _laughing_, Mal chased and finally caught that hairless rat Murphy called a kitten. The thing was squirmy and shrill. And ugly. Really, _really _ugly.

His first instinct had been to space the pathetic creature. Since he wanted to have sex again at some point in his lifetime, he merely voiced that he wished to turn around and ditch it back on world.

But then Murphy started to tear up, looked right up at him and sweetly begged, "But she's an orphan, too. And I named her Serenity."

Gorramit.

Everything pretty much went downhill from there.

Mal's second of hesitation allowed Sally to start throwing Hunter's underwear at the triplets. They flipped 'cuz they had girl underwear on 'em, and Hunter flipped 'cuz her underwear was getting green paint all over it. She socked her brother hard in the gut and the pair started wrestling, shouting and swearing and knocking over equipment as they rolled across the bay floor.

Joining the crazed frenzy, the triplets got loose and splattered more paint on more of the ship.

Ace chose that moment to begin puking in a fortunately placed trash bin.

Murphy's gorramn cat bit Mal's hand.

Mal swore and tossed the little creature away.

Murphy caught it and immediately burst into tears, blubbering about the mean captain hurting her kitty.

Kaylee and Frankie swarmed in to comfort the girl, glaring at Mal like he was something they'd scraped off their shoes.

Jan was laughing so hard he had tears streaming down his face.

Zoe had her son by the shirt collar, keeping the eager boy from joining into any of the frays. She was staring expectantly at the captain.

Jayne and Simon chased after the triplets, who, at some point during all the activity, had begun to strip out of their clothes and run in very naked circles all around the bay.

River began doing a handstand on the rails of the catwalk.

Melody entered and started screaming, apparently after some of the attention that her rowdy cousins and half-siblings were jeopardizing.

Briefly, Mal thought that Dana was going to swoop in and take control of his lot, help put an end to all the insanity. The young man racked the heavy barbell he'd been lifting and sat up from the weight bench. He stood, blankly surveyed the scene of pure chaos. And then he turned away, sweat dripping down his massive bare back as he began beating the hell out of Jayne's heavybag.

Shiny.

"FINE, _BUN EE-DWAY-RO_!!" Hunter's irate cursing suddenly increased to a decibel level that just about cancelled out the rest of the deafening noise in the bay, "THEN I JUST WON'T WEAR _ANY_ GORRAM UNDERWEAR!!"

The horrified expression on Sally's face made Jan laugh harder. The poor kid was curled in a ball on the floor, holding his stomach and seeming unable to breathe.

Turned out that he actually _had_ worked himself into a state where he literally could not breathe. Merry became very concerned when he noticed that the fifteen-year-old's face was turning blue. He rushed to Jan's side and tried to calm him down, but the gorram kid just kept cracking up like he'd completely cracked up.

Kelly's cries soon joined in, the little boy shrieking that he didn't want Jan to die.

Inara entered holding their hysterical daughter and began yelling at Mal about the noise. Yelling at _Mal_! Like _he_ was the one sobbing and swearing and carrying on!

Wash's voice came through the intercom. He urgently announced that they were coming up on a surprise checkpoint. They only had about thirty seconds to change course before the ship full of runaway fugitives would register on Alliance radar.

The bay became suddenly, eerily quiet.

Mal ordered him to change course, saying that he would be right up to help plan an alternate route to Galena and the Cobb family homestead. The man then whirled on Dana, who had been startled out of his assault of the punching bag by the pilot's declaration.

"When I get back down here," Mal irately ordered, "You'd better have control over your squad or there's gonna be some _serious_ problems."

And now Mal was hiding out in the shuttle, unwilling to deal with the Cobb mob or any of his own crew and their demon spawn. Some days, he just didn't want to be captain anymore.

"I used to think they were real good kids," The man mused aloud, compulsively petting Adhara's dark curls as the girl drooled straight through his shirt, "I was _so wrong_."

A few minutes later, Inara stepped inside the shuttle. She didn't say a word as she went about dressing down into a pair of comfortable pajamas and crawling into bed beside Mal. She let her head rest over his heart, her hand on Adhara's tiny back.

"Dana seems to have snapped out of it," She declared quietly, yawning as she settled down to join in on naptime, "He's got them calmed down and he's handing out punishments."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Mal continued to stare up at the ceiling. He put his arm around Inara's shoulders and stated, "Thank the dear fluffy Lord."

They sat in silence for a few moments before he asked, "'Nara?"

"Hmm?"

A pause.

"Let's not have any more kids, alright?"

She just snorted and snuggled in.

xxXxx

After a bit of struggling and brawling, Dana finally got his crew all split up, lined up, and nervously awaiting his orders. As much as he was still in need of a brief mental vacation from his duties, his family needed to him to restore the peace.

He wasn't quite ready to deal with Ace, so, first thing, he asked Miss Kaylee for the most unpleasant chore on the ship.

It was mopping and scouring rust beneath the septic. Without looking at her, Dana told his sister to hop to it, that the area had better be clean enough to eat off of because she was getting her meals served there from then until she grew some gorram sense.

From the way Ace tore out of the room and the retching sounds that followed shortly after, Dana concluded that his torture methods were a resounding success. "Don't think puking gets you off the hook!!" The young man shouted after her, only enjoying her pain a little more than was strictly necessary, "You're just making more work for yourself!! All the bathrooms and trash bins in this boat had better be spotless as well!!"

With her taken care of, he turned to Sally and Hunter. "You two are going to help Dr. Tam clean and organize the infirmary," Dana ordered sternly, cutting both members of the destructive pair off when they opened their mouths to argue. "If either of you says one gorram word," He threatened, "I'll have you locked in there from now until we hit land again."

Sally became twitchy and frightened. He looked like he was sizing Dana up, considering a fight rather than submit to the sentence.

"Don't do it, Salvatore," Dana advised plainly, "We both know how much I can hurt you and how much I don't want to. But I will. Now go."

Even though they were only a year apart in age, Dana had far more combat training than Sally. Everyone knew it. Everyone knew that Dana held back in fights with his siblings because he was afraid of hurting them.

So Sally went, clearly not happy about the punishment.

Hunter followed, glaring at Dana and then at Dr. Tam as he went along to supervise and make sure the young boy and girl didn't smash up his precious infirmary.

Dana wouldn't put it past them.

"You doing alright, Jan?" Dana asked, looking over at the young man who was still in the process of catching his breath after that near-fatal laughing jag. Jan nodded, his dyed black hair damp with sweat and hanging limply in his cobalt blue eyes. His face was flushed and his breathing slightly fast.

"Great," Dana went on, pointing to their youngest brother, whose hazel eyes were bloodshot and whose pale cheeks were streaked with dried tears, "You scared Kelly so you're in charge of tiring him out. He'd better sleep sound tonight or you're going to stay up with him."

Jan grumbled a bit but didn't argue.

Kelly sniffled and wiped snot on his sleeve.

Frankie scolded him gently, giving the twelve-year-old a strong one-armed hug.

Remembering how rude he'd been to her the day before, Dana smiled apologetically at Frankie before turning to face little Murphy. He kneeled in front of her. She pouted and clutched the little bundle that held her kitten tight against her chest.

"Murph," Dana began, threading his long fingers into the girl's fine pink hair, "I know you just wanted to save the cat, but you should've asked before you brought her on board. It'll be up to Captain Reynolds to say whether or not she can stay."

Murphy's eyes filled with tears once again.

Before she could start crying, Dana continued, "But you'll probably have a better chance of convincing him if you set up a pen for her, so that she won't be running around getting into things. Ask Miss Kaylee real nice if she has parts she can spare." He looked up at Merry and Frankie, grinning at them as he went on, "And maybe the twins can help you make something?"

"Sure," Merry agreed with a bright smile, nodding at Dana, "We'll help you out, little one. No sweat."

"I'm sure the captain will understand if you ask him very nicely," Frankie contributed, also giving Dana a nod, "And promise to take care of the kitten and keep her out of trouble until we reach Galena."

Murphy continued to pout, but she quietly agreed, "Ok."

"Alright," Dana said, standing once again and glancing over at the Tam triplets. Noah, Lukas, and Ben were still unabashedly naked, splattered with the green paint that had sprayed all over them when they set off the tripwire Sally had apparently rigged in the doorway of their bedroom. His brother had been paying attention, Dana noted fondly, and had seen that the Noah, Lukas, and Ben nearly always shoved to be the first through the door and ended up squeezing through together. It was the perfect point for a blitz attack.

"You three might want to think about negotiating a truce with Sally," Dana suggested helpfully, ignoring how very angry and unclothed the boys were, "You started something with him and he won't let it go until you ask, so ask nicely."

Suddenly feeling that maybe he'd overstepped his bounds, the young man looked to Miss Kaylee and offered, "I'm sorry if that was out of line, ma'am."

"It's fine," She replied, staring scathingly at her children, "This's been a good lesson for 'em but it does need to be over with or else Capn's heads gonna pop. Come on, boys, let's get you hosed down 'n then you can go negotiate with Sally."

The boys didn't seem at all happy about the prospect, but nevertheless followed their mother off to, once again, retrieve the hose.

Dana turned next to Zoe. He stood tall, completely at attention, and politely requested, "Ma'am, would it be alright if Gabe advised on Murphy's project? I think he'll have a better understanding of what the captain will and won't like out of it."

The warrior woman gave a fond, amused half-smirk, releasing her son's collar and answering, "Sure. That sounds like a fine plan."

"Thank you, ma'am," Dana stated, watching Gabe bolt, "Is there anything that you need me to do in the meantime?"

Her smirk grew wider. "If you don't mind," The woman replied, "It'd be nice if you could relieve my husband of his watch and send him my way."

"Of course," Dana quickly agreed, nodding and heading for the stairs, "I'll get right to it."

After he was gone, Jan began to giggle.

Jayne gave him a hard look, growling, "Don't even start, boy. I don't think nobody can survive your brother goin' off the deep end again."

"But that's why it's so funny," Jan snickered, grabbing Kelly into a headlock and dragging the boy off towards the open area in the bay.

Nobody else really got the joke.

xxXxx

The pair worked in silence, cleaning and rearranging a space that really had no need for either. Still, they knew that Mouse's punishment wasn't about the infirmary actually needing to be cleaned.

Sally opened a drawer and immediately started hyperventilating. Dropping what she was doing, Hunter carefully crossed the length of the room and looked around her brother's massive frame to see what had gotten him so riled up.

He'd found syringes, hundreds of them in clear, sterile packaging. They glinted in the light.

The fourteen-year-old with the blue hair frowned and placed a comforting hand on Sally's arm. "Trade?" She offered, pointing to the stack of innocuous gauze pads she'd left half sorted.

Sally nodded, slowly backing away from the instruments like they were going to jump up and attack him at any second. Even when he got safely to the other side of the room, he refused to completely turn his back on the objects of his nightmares.

The pair worked in silence.

Dr. Tam reentered carrying a crate of supplies he'd picked up on Cinnabar. He approached Hunter with it. The girl noticed him out of the corner of her eye and tensed immediately, not wanting to deal with his questions, no matter how veiled he tried to make them.

However, Sally took two long strides and blocked the doctor's path. "I'll take that," The young man stated, grabbing the crate and looming in an intimidating fashion, "Where do you want it?"

Simon faltered, trying to glance around his burly step-nephew with absolutely no success. "Um," He finally answered, pointing to a high cabinet on the far side of the room, "Over there should be fine."

"Show me how you want it," Sally demanded insistently, making his real message clear: _Leave her alone_.

Simon sighed in defeat.

As he let the doctor lead him away, Sally turned to glance at Hunter over his shoulder. They exchanged soft, appreciative smiles.

The pair worked in silence.

xxXxx

Melody was trying very hard to keep from crying but forcing down the tears made her tummy ache. And she was very afraid of her face getting stuck in a frown. Auntie Kaylee warned her that that could happen if she frowned too much.

But she couldn't help it. The girl didn't think her mama and papa were being fair. They never even _asked_ if she wanted brothers and sisters--which she didn't!!--but they brought a whole bunch on board anyways and then all they wanted to do all the time was play with the new kids and _not Melody_!

It wasn't _fair_! She wanted them to _go away_! Then things could go back to how they used to be, with just Melody and her mama and her papa and no loud, stupid brothers and sisters!

River approached with quiet steps that could have been silent had she wanted them to be. Her daughter heard her enter the bunk. Melody glared over her shoulder for a few moments before going back to sulking in her small bed. She glared at the glow-in-the-dark ballerina stickers on the metal bulkhead.

"Do you know how much Mama Bear and Papa Bear love their cub?" River asked softly, sitting beside her daughter, petting the girl's dark hair.

Melody refused to answer.

"Only more every day," The lithe dancer went on, wistful and sincere, "Can't ever stop, even for a second."

Melody remained silent but, really needing it, began to drift into the warmth of her mother's arms.

"Not asking Sister Bear to share," River continued, cuddling and kissing her baby girl, "Just asking her to love. Everything will fall into place if you open your heart, _bao bei_."

Melody sniffled, burying her face against her mother's shoulder.

xxXxx

Up to her elbows in the guts of _Serenity_'s environmental controls, Kaywinnit Lee Tam was trying desperately to buy the crew more time.

The whole system was running hot. She knew it would happen. With the added strain of nine more bodies to support, it was inevitable. But she was hoping that the machinery wouldn't start to wear down so soon, that they would be able to get the Cobb offspring safely to Galena with no trouble.

But they still had over a week to get there. And the detour around the Alliance checkpoint was probably going to add several days to that. Kaylee just wasn't sure that the system could keep up that long.

But the young mechanic was determined to make it. Weren't nothing she couldn't do when she put her mind to it. She could buy them time because it was all they needed.

xxXxx

"So, runt," Jan asked with a bright, teasing grin, "All that romping in the park yesterday and you're still not tired out?"

Kelly shook his head, dodging a punch aimed at it in the same moment. "Nope," The boy chirped, hardly bothered by the combat, "Sorry. I'm not trying to be not tired out."

"Nothing to be sorry for," Jan replied, grinnining, "It's not your fault that you're a hyper freak." The teen laughed, jumping effortlessly out of the way as Kelly pouted and swiped at his legs. Jan tackled his little brother to the floor, pinning him in a playful headlock.

Suddenly serious, the black-haired young man stated, "Hey, you know I'm not going to die, right? None of us are. You don't have to worry."

Kelly thought about the declaration for a few long moments, squirming in an attempt to break the pin. "I just got scared," He mumbled.

"I know," Jan agreed, "I'm sorry for scaring you." He smirked, "That was just some funny sh-"

"Jan!!" Frankie shouted from the other end of the bay, "Watch your mouth!!"

The teen rolled his eyes, biting back, "It's not like he hasn't heard worse."

Gently sweeping blonde curls away from her glare, Frankie responded, "Not from you he hasn't, and he better not if you know what's good for you."

Jan stuck out his tongue, teasing, "How's the cat-house coming?"

"It's great!" Murphy beamed, cuddling her frighteningly ugly hairless kitten as she helped Merry place a flag on top of their large birdhouse-like creation.

Merry groaned. "Murph, little one," He pleaded for the hundredth time, "Can't we call it something else? Like cat nest or cat... um... room?"

The little girl pouted, her pink bob perfectly framing her mouth. "No, it's called a cat-house," She insisted, "It's a house for cats. Like a birdhouse is a house for birds. Why don't you like that name?"

Jan giggled.

Merry sighed.

xxXxx

Paraplegic sexing wasn't by any means easy and, sadly, at times it was just not possible, no matter how willing both parties in the equation were.

However, it wasn't _im_possible. And Mr. and Mrs. Washburne both thoroughly enjoyed it when they could get it.

"God bless that boy," Zoe sighed, sweaty and sated and nestled into the crook of her husband's astoundingly muscular chest and arm.

Grinning, Wash agreed, "I could certainly get used to having a full-time protégé around here. Especially when it means I'm freed up for... _other things_."

With a low, throaty chuckle, the bronzed warrior-woman shut her eyes, settling in for sleep. "I do like your _other things_," she murmured.

The couple sat in silence for a few moments, basking in the afterglow.

"I'll miss 'em," Wash stated suddenly, staring almost mournfully up at the ceiling, "Not just Dana. All of 'em. I wish they could stay." The pilot glanced down at his wife and saw that she was asleep. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and closed his eyes and joined her.

xxXxx

When Hunter started breaking things--purely on accident, of course--Dr. Tam grew fed up and kicked both her and her brother out of the sick bay. Relieved to be free from their punishment, the two wandered through the halls of _Serenity_, intent on avoiding Mouse.

"I heard you got a tattoo," Hunter said, checking around the bend leading up to the cargo bay. When she saw that Mouse wasn't there, she turned and grinned at Sally, asking, "Can I see?"

Following his sister into the chaos that was the bay, the young man responded, "Sure." He took off his shirt and sat down on the weight bench, fondly watching Jan and Kelly wrestle for a few moments before sitting back and picking up the heavy barbell.

"It's pretty!" Hunter squealed, poking at the intricate red and gold eagle.

Inexplicably ticklish, Sally laughed and nearly dropped the weight on his neck.

If Merry hadn't been there to rush to his aid, the young man may very well have. The two boys and Hunter managed to get the barbell racked again. The very moment he was out of danger, Sally grabbed Hunter into a headlock.

"You trying to get me killed, ginger kid?" He scolded, though the tone was ruined by his breathless laughs, "I thought we had a truce!"

"Just appreciating fine art, big brother," The girl argued, squirming to get free, "And anyways, why an eagle?"

Sally scoffed, answering, "From the poem, of course."

Hunter stared at him like he'd maybe lots his mind.

"I never told you about 'the Eagle that is Forgotten'?" Sally said, perplexed, "It's a poem. It was really popular on L'Aquila when I was little. It's what the planet was named for. My mamma used to tell it to me all the time."

"How's it go?" His sister questioned, managing to escape the headlock. She smacked him hard on the shoulder before offering a bright smile.

"STORY TIME!!!" Kelly shrieked suddenly, nearly stepping on Jan's face as the tiny blonde raced to launch himself at Sally, "I wanna hear the story, too!! Please, Sally? Pretty please?"

"Gorram, runt," the black-haired teen grunted, trying to get Kelly to stop bouncing and squirming in his lap. That was the way accidents happened. "Of course you can hear, but you have to calm down and sit still. And it's not a story, just a poem."

Kelly beamed, settling himself down on Sally's knee. "That's ok," the boy said, "Poems are good too. I heard somebody telling one of those in the marketplace yesterday. Um, it goes, 'there was a young fellow named Perkin, who was always jerkin his gherkin. His father said, Perkin, stop jerkin your gherkin. Your gherkins fer ferkin not jerkin.'" The boy smiled up at his shocked brother, asking, "Isn't that shiny? What's a gherkin?"

For the second time that day, Jan began to laugh himself into breathless hysterics.

Merry had his hands over Gabe's ears, and the teen was trying and failing not to snicker. Frankie had her hands over Murphy's ears and was glaring at Sally. Like it was _his_ fault the runt had a freaky sponge for a brain!

Sally's olive face flushed pink at the cheeks, his mouth hanging open helplessly.

"It's a euphemism for penis," Hunter supplied, giggling.

Sally gaped at his sister in horror and outrage.

"_Oh_," Kelly answered, seeming to be thinking very hard. After a long moment, he questioned, "Then what's ferkin?"

"You're not supposed to say that word," a new voice cut in, timid yet indignant, "It's a swear."

Sally, Hunter, and Kelly all turned to see the Tam triplets standing nearby. Each one of the three little boys had his hands jammed in his pockets, his head hanging and shoulders slumped.

Suddenly worried, Kelly asked, "It is? Really?" He turned back to his siblings. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say a swear."

"It wasn't even a good one," Hunter laughed.

"Don't worry, runt. It was an accident," Sally spoke up, giving the boy a comforting squeeze. He then turned to the three intruders, eyes narrowing as he asked, "Can we help you with something?"

Lukas with his dark hair and pale blue eyes scowled at the young man. "Mama says we gotta negotiate a truce," he muttered, "And we gotta say sorry for pickin' on you and promise not to do it no more if you'll promise to stop playin' jokes on us back."

Ben grumbled something beneath his breath, whisky brown eyes on his shoes.

Noah's open blue gaze was locked on Jan, who was still on the floor in a fit of laughter. "Is he ok?" the boy questioned hesitantly, pushing russet fringe off his forehead.

"He's fine," Sally dismissed, "I guess we can have a truce if you guys are serious. I'd just better not end up locked in anywhere again."

The triplets grumbled some sort of agreement.

Beaming, Kelly announced, "Sally's telling us a poem! His probably won't use a swear 'cuz he knows swears better than me and he almost never uses them, unless he's got good call. That's what he said this one time when he said a real loud swear 'cuz he another cadet dropped a rifle on Sally's toe. But he said that I'm still not allowed to use swears and I did earlier but I didn't mean to so Sally said it was ok." His grin grew wider. "Do you guys wanna hear the poem, too?"

Seemingly impressed with the amount of words the boy got out in just one long breath, the triplets looked amongst themselves, shrugged in tandem, and then plopped down near Sally's feet.

Sally squirmed on the bench, coughing to clear his throat as all eyes fell on him. Jan had quit laughing and was scooting closer. Merry, Frankie, Murphy, and Gabe had quit their work on the cat-house to venture nearer to the young man. Out of the corner of his eye, he even saw Melody wandering shyly onto the catwalks above. "Um, ok," the teen stated, voice deep and rumbling, unhurried as he drew on old memories to recite the poem...

"Sleep softly... eagle forgotten... under the stone.

Time has its way with you there, and the clay has its own.

'We have buried him now,' thought your foes, and in secret rejoiced.

They made a brave show of their mourning, their hatred unvoiced.

They had snarled at you, barked at you, foamed at you day after day;

Now you were ended. They praised you... and laid you away.

The others that mourned you in silence and terror and truth,

The widow bereft of her crust, and the boy without youth,

The mocked and the scorned and the wounded, the lame and the poor,

That should have remembered forever... remember no more.

Where are those lovers of yours, on what name do they call--

The lost, that in armies wept over your funeral pall?

They call on the names of a hundred high-valiant ones;

A hundred white eagles have risen, the sons of your sons.

The zeal in their wings is a zeal that your dreaming began,

The valor that wore out your soul in the service of man.

Sleep softly... eagle forgotten... under the stone.

Time has its way with you there and the clay has its own.

Sleep on, O brave-hearted, O wise man, that kindled the flame--

To live in mankind is far more than to live in a name;

To live in mankind, far, far more... than to live in a name."

As Sally finished, the bay was silent for a long few moments, empty and almost ringing without his strong bass voice.

"That was real nice," Frankie commented, offering her brother a warm smile, "It's a pretty poem, and you tell it real well."

Not quite liking all the attention but gradually relaxing, Sally stated, "Thanks."

"Do you know anymore poems?" Murphy questioned hopefully, squeezing her ugly kitten as she burrowed against Merry's side.

"Uh, not really," Sally replied, "Just that poem that my mamma told me... and some Bible stories. She told those a lot, too."

"Do you know the Noah story?" Noah asked, happy and bright, "I like that story! That's where my name is from!"

In spite of himself, Sally gave a slight smile. "Sure I know that one," he answered, "You want to hear it?"

He got a chorus of "Yeah!"

Sally chuckled, watching Melody finish her stealthy descent of the stairs. The girl drifted closer and closer to the group until sitting herself down at the very back. She kept her dark eyes on his blue ones, hesitant but eager.

"Ok," Sally said, bouncing Kelly once on his knee before beginning, "A long time ago, God looked down on the people of Earth-that-was and saw that they had become wicked. He was very sad that his creations turned out that way but decided he would have to wipe out them out. But there was still one good man left, and God wanted to save him to start the world again new and good. His name was Noah..."

xxXxx

"_... God told Noah to build an ark for him and for his family to get ready for a big flood that would destroy every living thing on the planet. God told Noah to gather two of every animal, a boy and a girl, and bring them into the ark..._"

Dana smiled as he listened in on Sally's story through _Serenity_'s comm system.

He tried not to hear the sound of familiar footsteps approaching the bridge but couldn't ignore them for long.

From her reflection in the windshield, Ace was looking significantly less green and more blonde. She frowned quizzically at the sound of Sally's story, waiting a few moments to be acknowledged.

Dana kept his attention split between the story and the ship's navigation screens.

"Mouse," the seventeen-year-old called quietly, moving forward and sinking down into the co-pilot seat.

Dana didn't look up.

"Mouse," Ace tried once more, fidgeting nervously.

"Did you get all those chores done?" the young man questioned.

"Ya, Mouse. I-"

"Go help with dinner."

"... _And it rained for forty days and forty nights. The planet was flooded for another hundred-fifty days after that. The flood killed everyone and everything except for Noah and his family and all the animals on the ark. Eventually, the ark rested on the very top of a tall mountain that was just above the flood waters, and Noah and his family waited there a long time for the water to dry up..._"

"I'm sorry," Ace said, fidgeting guiltily, "I know I screwed up and I know you're mad. But can you at least just... just talk to me or something? Hell, yell at me if you want to. But quit the silent thing. It's really freaking everyone out."

Dana didn't look at her. "I'm not mad," he stated pointedly, "I just don't want to talk to you right now. Go help with dinner. Do the cleanup too and then you're off the hook, alright?"

Seeming unsure whether to be relieved, remorseful, or indignant, Ace said, "alright," and got up and left without another word.

"... _And the dove returned with an olive branch in its beak, meaning that it had found trees and land. The flood was drying up, and Noah finally let the animals off the ark. As they all wandered out into the new world, God put a rainbow in the sky as a promise that he would never again wipe out mankind..._"

Dana smiled, listening as Sally finished his story, as the kids begged for more and he began another.

Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt when the young man once again heard footsteps approaching the bridge. These ones were much heavier, and Dana knew in an instant to whom they belonged.

Jayne didn't speak as he lowered himself down into the pilot's seat. His burly body relaxed back into the chair as he sat beside his son and listened to the story coming through the comm.

After Daniel escaped the lions' den and David slew Goliath, Jayne finally broke the silence. "You alright?" he questioned.

"Fine," Dana answered. He hoped that his curt monosyllabic response would be the end of his father's attempt at parenting.

"Any chance you might wanna explain why you went all strange?" Jayne asked.

Damn. No such luck.

"I have my reasons," Dana replied. His blue eyes slid from the navigation screen to fix upon his father, pinning the older man with the irrational anger in his stare. "_None_ of which I feeling like sharing."

Jayne's strong jaw tensed.

Dana once again realized how much like his father he looked and he didn't like it.

"You mad at me now, too?" Jayne questioned, exasperated, "Gorramit, I can't seem to keep more 'n half 'a you happy at a time."

"It doesn't have anything to do with you," Dana insisted, growing cross, "It doesn't have anything to do with anything. Just leave me alone."

Sighing, the merc scrubbed a broad hand down his goatee. "Look," he said, "You're nearly grown and you got a good head on yer shoulders. If you say ya don't need me, that's fine. I can respect that. But you're still my son, and I'm still your father, so it's my job to try to help you along through your life as best as I can. Seein' you this upset makes me think I should be doin' somethin' a little more 'n buyin' you a gun... which I did, by the way, if that does make you feel better. But, anyways, if you need to... talk or anything, I'm willin' to listen."

Dana stared, perplexed, and thought about his mother, how she couldn't have ever loved him, how she drank and called names him and hid him in closets while she had sex with strange men for money. He thought about watching her walk away. He thought about her never looking back.

Dana thought about his father, how he was right there, how he thought Dana might need him so he sought his son out. Dana thought about how the man was genuinely trying to be a father, to care for Dana and his brothers and sisters, how Jayne Cobb, despite his many failings, was a good man.

A reluctant smile began to tug at the corners of the brunette's mouth. "What kind of gun?" Dana asked.

xxXxx

The knock woke Mal. It was tiny and quiet, and he grumbled as he carefully untangled himself from his sleeping child and future-wife to answer the shuttle door.

He immediately had to adjust his sightline, letting it drop several feet to the bottle blue eyes of little Murphy Gold.

Her horribly ugly kitten's eyes were still just vague dark lumps in its skull, but Mal could still feel the wrinkled creature staring.

Merry, Frankie, and Gabe were milling about behind the girl.

"Hi, Captain Reynolds," Murphy began with a nervous but bright smile, "Mouse said I needed to say sorry for bringing the kitty on board without asking you first." She pouted. "I'm sorry."

"Alright," Mal yawned, "I'm glad you're sorry. But what do you think we should do about your, uh, _pet_?"

"Merry and Frankie and Gabe helped me build a cat-house for Serenity," she announced proudly, gesturing to a square-shaped contraption in her brother's arms.

Mal looked at her older siblings, raising an eyebrow at the odd word choice. Both of them just shrugged.

"I promise I'll keep her from getting into anything important," Murphy continued, "And she won't bite you again. I swear. And you don't even have to see her if you don't want to. And I'll feed her myself, 'cuz the nice man at the store who let me have her let me have some kitty food, too. And I'll take her with me when we get off on Galena. Merry says that's where we're probably gonna stay now and that it'll be our home and I think Serenity will really like it there."

Mal opened his mouth to say something, but Murphy just kept going.

"Please don't make me leave her all alone somewhere!" the girl pleaded, suddenly very near hysterical, " She's little and an orphan and I don't want Serenity to be all alone and I don't want anybody to give her bad shots or call her mean names!"

Mal was not yet fully awake and therefore rather confused. "Huh?" he asked, "What mean names?" Who was going to give the cat shots? Or call it names? Well, aside from baldy, wrinkly, ugly, evil-

"Annie," Murphy whispered, low and secretive, like it was profane.

Mal was even more confused, and, had it not been obvious the little girl was completely serious, he would've burst out laughing. The captain glanced at the two older Cobb siblings for some clarification.

They both looked infinitely sad. "The soldiers on Bastille called us that," Merry explained, shifting the awkward cat-house in his strong arms, "It... I guess it doesn't sound that bad, but they were pretty cruel."

Mal blinked. "Oh." And he understood.

"I don't think you gotta worry about anybody callin' the cat a' Annie or giving her shots," Mal stated, taking a knee in front of the girl and offering a warm smile, "And I'm sure she'll love it on Galena."

A tentative smile bloomed on her pretty little face. "You mean it?"

Mal nodded. "I supposed I can tolerate the thing for a few weeks. You just make sure 'n take care of it like you said."

Murphy threw her an arm around his neck, squeezing the man tight and trapping the writhing kitten between their bodies. "Thank you, Captain Reynolds!" she beamed, "Thank you _so much_!! I swear, I'll take good care of Serenity and I won't let her bother you or get into the cargo or anything! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!"

Though he felt slightly awkward and was worried for the safety of his nipples with that gorram demon cat so close to them, Mal couldn't help being happy that he was the one to bring so much joy into this little girls life. After what her and her siblings went through, they all deserved every ounce they could get.

xxXxx

At dinnertime, Wash came up to relieve Dana of his watch, telling the young man to go get some food in him.

Dana politely refused, saying that he wasn't hungry, that he'd rather stay on watch longer. He said that Wash should go have a nice dinner with the crew; Dana would go get something later. The young man was not swayed by any amount of playful chiding.

Of course, when Wash went into the mess and reported these facts, Kaylee and River immediately huffed and stomped off to fetch the oldest Cobb offspring. Wash went to take his watch, and Dana got an earful about how it wasn't healthy for a growing young man to be skipping meals.

Dana sat sullenly at the table.

Merry approached him, seeming ready to instigate another massive group hug in order to make his brother feel better.

However, Dana caught on this time, his glare pinning the younger boy in his seat.

After that, everyone pretty much left Dana to brood into his plate of real meat and vegetables, courtesy of the generous portion of Ace's ill-gotten cash that had gone to the _Serenity_ crew.

Even with Dana's sulking, the rest of the company was at least mostly normal. Jan and Hunter traded joking insults and kindhearted threats. Sally and the triplets seemed to be actually getting along, whispering and giggling evilly at the far end of the table. Simon watched, horrified, because he figured that without the little war keeping them occupied, all four were going to turn their collective powers of mayhem back onto him. Kelly was talking Zoe's ear off while Murphy, Melody, and Gabe chatted amongst themselves, as did Merry, Inara, and Kaylee. Mal was trying to coax his daughter into eating some sort of carrot paste. Jayne had his arm around his petite wife's shoulders, listening with a smile as she and Frankie spoke animatedly about a ballet they were going download off the cortex and project in the bay later that night.

Ace mostly just kept an eye on her oldest brother, watching while he halfheartedly choked down his meal and refused to look up from his plate. She really wanted to fix whatever she did. Unfortunately, she wasn't so sure anymore that she knew exactly what that was. It must've been different than all the other times she'd done something dumb just for the sake of wanting to and not being able to stop herself. Mouse had never stayed mad at her for the nearly this long. Not ever.

And she just wanted to make it better, hated feeling like the guilt and worry were going to eat a hole right through her gut.

After the meal was over and, per the continued terms of her punishment, Ace helped clean everything up, she sought out her father on a whim. He was in the bay, sitting on the floor with Murphy, Melody, and Gabe, watching while they all three played with the freakish little creature called Serenity.

"Can I talk to you?" Ace questioned, feeling just shy of idiotic that she was actually doing it, "In private?"

Jayne seemed equally surprised, glancing around to make sure that the girl was talking to him before standing and answering, "Ya. Ya, a' course."

She led her father back into the currently deserted kitchen area, sitting down at the table and gesturing for him to take a chair on the other side.

They just stared at each other for awhile.

"Mouse has been bugging me to give you a chance," Ace stated flatly, not doing too terribly good a job of concealing just how distasteful she thought the suggestion, "I figured a token effort might get him less pissed at me. And hopefully acting normal again."

Jayne blinked at his daughter, "Uh, alright."

They stared again, both seeming unsure of what to do or say.

"I'm not calling you 'Dad'," Ace announced.

Nodding, Jayne said, "That's yer right."

More silence.

"Want to play cards?" Ace challenged.

Jayne tried not to grin too hugely. "Yeah."

xxXxx

Dana had stopped obsessively watching the navigations screens at least an hour ago. He still glanced down occasionally but was mostly sure that the ship was away from the danger posed by Alliance checkpoints and cruisers.

This freed him up to watch the stars float aimlessly past the windshield.

The firefly was quiet, its inhabitants asleep after a busy night. The ballet showing was a success. Jayne and Ace spawned a massive, heated poker game and seemed to have gotten along much better than during the last one. The doctor somehow ended up with his teeth stained black, and Sally and the triplets were officially rogue.

But now they were all asleep and Dana was awake, having volunteered to keep yet another shift at the watch. He just needed the time alone. To think. Wash seemed to understand, even if no one else did.

"The answers aren't out there," the funny little man said with a funny little smile before retiring for the artificial night, "It's just a whole lotta nothin'."

That was true. After nearly a full day of staring into the black, Dana was no closer to really understanding what exactly he was so mad at (if it really was something and not just everything) or how he could fix it.

The young man always knew he would never get over his mother's abandonment, but he thought he'd at least come to some sort of acceptance surrounding the incident. He'd mostly been mad at Ace for making him remember, making him wonder and worry if she, as well as the rest of his siblings, would one day leave him, too.

Because there had to have been something wrong with him, he thought, if his own mother couldn't even love him. And if she couldn't love him, could just leave him, what was stopping everyone else he loved from doing the same?

The young man's shoulders and jaw were almost painfully tense. He didn't want to be left behind again, left alone.

Dana didn't hear Miss River's footsteps approach but all of a sudden she was just _there_, standing over him with a gentle smile, cradling his cheeks in her small, warm hands.

"Just because she left," the woman murmured softly, "Does not mean you are worth leaving." His stepmother leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his brow. "Her failing, not yours. Her loss and my gain."

Dana closed his eyes and let the fear melt from his body.

Miss River laughed. "Finders keepers."

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

bun ee-dway-ro - stupid sack of meat

bao bei - sweetheart

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

cat-house - slang for brothel.

"The Eagle that is Forgotten" - a poem by Vachel Lindsay.

L'Aquila - Italian for 'the eagle;' Aquila is a genus of birds which includes some eagles; also the eagle constellation.

Um, ya, so the only reason I got this finished with finals week right around the corner is because I have a quite severe procrastination problem. And because it's much more enjoyable to write forstories than term papers. Even if I get caught up and spent a whole day doing it with two 8 papers, neither of which I've started, due in the next week. Anyways, reviews might make me feel less like I'm a terrible, horrible, hopeless slacker who is going to flunk out of college... heh...


	11. Part 11: Puppy Love

Part 11 - Puppy Love

"Why don't you give it up already?" Jan suggested, yawning as he squirmed to get comfortable in _Serenity_'s co-pilot seat, "Do you actually think you're going to prove Murph's stupid cat is a demon with a cortex search?"

"Never know," Hunter shrugged, rapidly typing and clicking her way through several dozen screens, "I'm sure there's something unnatural about that creature. It's gorram creepy. I can feel it watching me while I'm trying to sleep."

Her brother offered a tired smirk, complaining, "Ya, well I've been sleeping just fine, so I'd appreciate being left out of it the next time you decide to get volunteered for a midnight watch."

She grinned. "Where's the fun in that?" the girl teased, her hair still bright blue, "It's just like old times breaking into the offices on Bastille."

"Breaking and entering is fun," Jan pointed out, pulling a faded green blanket tighter around his lean shoulders, "Sneaking out after lockdown is fun. Getting yelled at by the captain and banished to watch duty is _not_. I wouldn't have started cussing if I knew him and his kid were right around the corner."

Laughing, Hunter countered, "I know. That's why I didn't tell you they were there. Besides, it's not that bad. Ace got all the truly unpleasant chores out of the way last week when Mouse punished her for that bonehead stunt on Cinnabar. And I'll let you sleep, if you really want to."

"Nah," Jan said, fidgeting, his spiky hair in disarray and looking rather muddy as it was fading from black back to brown, most of the cheap dye ending up sweating off onto his skin and his pillow over the last week, "I can't sleep in this chair. And I wouldn't want the captain catching me laying down on the job." He smiled at his sister. "Find anything yet?"

"Nope," she answered, "Nothing that matches so far on the demonology sites."

Jan rolled his eyes. "Why don't you try looking through a cat breed site?" he suggested, "Or better yet, just search 'freaky hairless cat.' That should probably do the trick."

"Worth a shot, I guess," the girl agreed, typing furiously. A few seconds later, her blue eyes went wide in the sickly glow from the readout. "You were right!" she exclaimed, not sounding all that happy about it, "The gorram thing really is a cat! It's called a Sphynx! People actually _breed _them and... jeez, they sell for truly ridiculous amounts! Who in their right mind would pay that much for such a frightening beast?"

Chuckling, Jan answered, "I don't know, I guess Murph's is kind of cute in its own extremely strange way. And, anyways, Kel's pretty freaky looking too, and we still keep him."

"Kelly doesn't have giant scary bat ears or sit up at night watching me sleep," Hunter fired back, a little miffed that her demon theory hadn't panned out. She clicked off the cortex and slumped back into the pilot's seat. "We probably could've talked Mouse and the captain into letting us space it if it was a demon," she sighed, all mournful, "Now we're just stuck with the creepy thing."

"I'm sure you'll get used to it," Jan said, "Murph really loves the little critter. Didn't you ever have a pet before Bastille?"

"I was four when I got reclaimed," Hunter admitted with a quiet grumble, "I don't remember that much from before."

The two sat in silence a few moments.

"I had a puppy," Jan announced, voice quiet and wistful, "Her name was Bo. She was... some kind of collie mix, I think. She followed me home from school one day and I begged my mom to let me keep her... I'd only had her a few months when I got reclaimed. I still wonder sometimes what happened to her, if she was ok."

They were quiet again, but Jan seemed suddenly uncomfortable with his confession. "Stupid, right?" the boy laughed bitterly, "She was just a dog. Probably dead now anyways. Someone probably sold her for meat."

In a world that was fair and just, Hunter thought, her brother wouldn't ever have use for such a sad, pitiful tone. "Dogs can live a really long time," the girl said, because she couldn't think of anything else, "Sometimes even fourteen or fifteen years. And collie's are smart. I'll bet Bo's doing alright for herself."

Jan's slight smile was slow but hopefully, grateful. He laughed, "She was pretty crafty. She learned how to work the door on our pantry and get into her food."

Hunter grinned.

Seconds later, a wave lit up the cortex screen. Hunter made a brief adjustment to the camera, pointing it at her shoulder rather than her highly-valuable fugitive face, and then accepted the wave.

"Go for _Serenity_," the girl greeted importantly.

A large man with a bushy auburn-and-silver beard peered curiously up out of the screen. "_I need to talk with Mal Reynolds_," the man announced, slightly hesitant, "_Tell him it's Monty and it's urgent_."

Jan and Hunter exchanged a glance. Each held out a fist. "One, two, three, shoot," the teens chanted. Jan cursed when Hunter's rock crushed his scissors. Still wrapped tightly in the faded green blanket, Jan got up and stumbled off to fetch the captain.

"He'll be a minute," Hunter said, careful to keep her face out of view, especially because she could see the curious way the man was looking at what little of her was available.

"_You new crew?_" Monty questioned lightly, "_I don't 'member Mal mentionin' new crew_."

"Just a passenger," Hunter volunteered, "I happened to be walking by and saw your wave. Lucky, too, because it's the middle of our night cycle."

His large face colored slightly. "_I didn't realize_," the man said, "_I guess I'm in debt to you then... um, what's your name, darlin'?_"

"Harper," the girl replied without pause, "You a friend of the captain's?"

"_Oh ya_," Monty answered eagerly, offering a tight but genial smile, "_Me 'n Mal go way back. We served together in the first U-war_."

"Another browncoat then," Hunter observed, "That's shiny. My mom was a browncoat. Pretty high up. She was killed in a test attack by one of the Alliance's top secret weapons. They covered it up by saying it was a terraforming problem. I only survived because my mom put me in a pod and shot me out into space. I crash landed on an ice world and was found by a group of monks. They raised me, teaching me the ways of meditation and combat. Now I'm going to the core to fulfill my destiny as chosen one. I'm supposed to bring about a massive overthrown of the government powers and save the 'verse or something like that. I don't know. Brother Khan was a little fuzzy on the details."

Monty just stared up at her. Hunter kept a completely straight face.

"You tellin' tales, little girl?" the captain grumbled tiredly as he arrived with Jan a step behind.

Jan was snickering quietly. It had been awhile since Hunter'd felt the urge to spin some fantastic lie. They were always somewhat senseless but tons of fun.

Beaming, the girl replied, "Just passing the time with your nice friend." She paused a moment. "Does this mean Jan and I are off the hook for watch?"

"Ya, get on outta here," Mal muttered, waving the pair away. As they jogged down the hallway with soft laughs, the captain turned to the vid-screen and greeted, "Hey, Monty. How you been?"

xxXxx

"We're gonna be takin' a quick detour," the captain announced at breakfast the following morning, "Monty got himself stranded on Siddhartha with a busted engine. We're gonna swing by, Kaylee's gonna fix him up, and we'll be on our way."

"What about the kids?" Jayne spoke up, quite clearly thinking Mal's plan was a bad one, "Monty ain't exactly known for hirin' the most trustworthy 'a crews, 'less you're fergettin' how Yo-Saff-Bridge had him had. What if one 'a his crew recognizes the kids and tries turnin' 'em in?"

All eyes turned expectantly to Mal, demanding a suitable answer. The captain nearly backed up a step. "I thought 'a that," he claimed, huffing and digging into his pocket, "There's a dust storm on world. We'll try to keep the kids away from his crew, but otherwise they'll use their aliases and wear these over their faces." He threw a handful of variously-colored bandanas onto the table. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"I have a problem," Sally commented, poking at the mound of stiff, sweat-stained fabric, "These are gross."

"Thanks for volunteering to wash them," Dana chirped brightly, slurping down his protein, "I know how much you like it when things are clean."

"Oh, come on!" the black-haired behemoth complained, gesturing at the Tam triplets, "Why am I still being punished? It was their idea!"

Dana raised an eyebrow, challenging, "Three six-year-olds just happened to have the recipe for the pressure sensitive snap powder we learned to make for perimeter security?"

Faltering slightly, Sally replied, "Well, no. That was me. But it was their idea to put it on the toilet seats!"

Most of the assembled crew members snickered at the memory of the quiet bang and terrified shrieking that preceded Simon tearing out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles.

Dr. Tam was not amused, sulking and glaring openly. Three days had passed and he still couldn't get over the trauma of thinking his rear end had exploded.

"Hmm," Dana mused, taking another thoughtful bite of his protein, "I believe you, and yet I don't care. Funny how that works. You'll want to have the bandanas scrubbed out and dried by the time we hit land. Don't use up too much water and be sure to fold them nice so they don't wrinkle." He grinned impishly at the adult crew members. "Is there anything else that needto be done?"

"I could use some help with heavy liftin' while I rewire the environmental controls," Kaylee offered with a smile and bright wink, "Since my boys are gonna be busy cataloguin' washers all day."

The triplets whined in tandem.

Smirking, Dana announced, "No problem, Miss Kaylee. Sally would love to help out. Wouldn't you, Sal?"

Sally sighed, replying, "Ya. I'd be happy to, ma'am."

"Alright then," Mal declared, scooping his fussy daughter out of Inara's arms, "Me 'n Adhara got captainy things to do. I expect the rest of ya'll to behave."

Adhara squirmed, shrieking with laughter as Mal tickled her stomach and carted her off down the hall.

xxXxx

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Dana stated, hating the crack in his voice as his tense arms shook and tried to keep in control of _Serenity_'s yolk.

"Nonsense," Wash replied, seeming very happy with his protégé's progress as the young man guided the ship into atmo, "You're doing just fine. And practice makes perfect. Just remember, you're a leaf on the wind."

Dana still didn't really know what that meant, but he nodded and tried to concentrate, to remember some of the more useful of the pilot's lessons.

It wasn't long before the vessel gave a lurching shake and then began to spin.

"Y-You're a leaf on the wind!!" Wash coached, sort of sounding a lot less certain as his fingers dug so hard into the armrests that the imitation leather squealed.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!"

Dana wasn't entirely sure who shouted the reply. He felt like he might be having an out of body experience, numb arms struggling desperately to make the ship come out of its spiral.

Fortunately, Wash finally decided to take over the controls from the other side. Dana was shaking uncontrollably, the thought that he almost just killed everyone wreaking havoc on his fragile mind.

Straightening out the course, Wash gave a strained laugh. "Sorry," he said, "Maybe this isn't the best time for a solo flight. I didn't realize the storm was so strong. Just, uh, I guess pay attention to what I'm doing, and I'll let you try again next time we land."

Dana nodded mutely and, with great difficulty, pried his white-knuckled hands off the steering yolk.

xxXxx

"Mouse," Murphy accused, frowning up at him as she hugged her hideous kitten against her chest, "Did you almost crash us again?"

Melody stood beside the girl, big brown eyes wide and accusing.

A half hour after the ship finally set down inside a sheltered crater beside Monty's larger vessel, Dana was still shaken up to the point where walking and breathing were difficult. Even those were only possible because of Wash's extensive counseling He nodded at his sister before moving past her.

"I don't think you should crash _Serenity_," Murphy announced as she followed the young man over to his bedroll, where he collapsed mutely, "The captain wouldn't like that 'cuz he loves _Serenity_. And we might not ever get to Galena, and Serenity's real excited about that 'cuz she'll get to run around and play outside and have a home. And Serenity can't stay on _Serenity_ for too much longer 'cuz Captain said she could only stay for a little while until we get to Galena. So don't crash _Serenity_ or Serenity and me'll be sad, ok?"

Dana blinked at the girl, feeling very stupid for not being able to follow what she just said. He really wished she hadn't named her cat after the freaking ship.

"And Papa might shoot you," Melody added, kind of snottily. She was getting a lot better about not acting like a jealous brat all the time, but... well...

The hatch on the airlock opened in a burst of howling wind and swirling pale green dust. The captain struggled through and shut it with a relieved bang. "Gorram," Mal groaned, shaking himself like a dog to get rid of the clinging particles, "That's one helluva storm!" He pushed down his formerly white bandana, pushed up his grimy goggles, and yelled, "DOC!!"

"There's no need to shout, Mal," Simon answered, strolling calmly into the bay from the direction of his lab, "What is it?"

"Most 'a Monty's crew got food poisonin'," the captain reported, still shaking himself off and sounding quite pleased, "Only him 'n Lenny ain't sick. Think you might go over on the next run 'n see to 'em?"

"Of course," Simon replied, "I'll just gather some supplies."

Nodding, Mal said, "Great." He looked around. "Dana," the man called, "Kaylee said she's gonna need some help with liftin'. Just you, Sally, 'n Ace'll pro'ly be enough. And Monty 'n Lenny're trustworthy enough to not have to worry about aliases or keepin' your faces hidden. We've known both of 'em for years. Make sure you're all ready to leave in five."

Dana shook himself, automatically responding, "Yes, sir."

The captain looked at the young man strangely for a few moments and then shrugged, ruffling Murphy's and Melody's hair before trudging off in search of his first mate and mercenary.

Dana took a deep, calming breath and followed to find his brother and sister.

xxXxx

Three heavily-covered figures met them at the hatch of the other ship, going out while the _Serenity_ crew was trying to get in.

"Lil Kaylee here says we got somethin' loose externally," one of the figures, the far largest one who was carrying a long ladder, shouted over the swirling wind, "Quickest way to get at the problem is to open her up." Dana could see the edges of a bushy auburn-and-silver beard peeking out from under the man's black bandana.

"It should be pretty fast, Cap'n," the peppy mechanic chimed, her pink and purple flowered bandana, purple goggles, and bright yellow toolbox making her easy to pick out from the trio. "I'm thinkin' a couple weak solders that got shook outta place when they landed rough."

"Alright," Mal replied, also having to shout to be heard, "Doc, you can head in, and the rest of us'll see to that. Lead the way, Monty."

The group trudged slowly along under the ship's belly, unable to see very far or anything but the cloud of pale green dust. "Monty, Lenny," the captain introduced after a few moments, probably just to give himself something to do while they walked, "This is Dana, Sally, 'n Ace. Guys, Monty 'n Lenny."

"Nice to meet ya," the smaller figure yelled over the wind, turning and offering a hand to Dana. He took it and gave a firm pump, noting that it was slim but strong inside soft leather gloves. "Likewise," Dana replied. From the man's dress, Dana assumed Lenny was young, probably his own age. He was only a few inches shorter than Dana but skinny, with impossibly long limbs clad in bulky denim and flannel. He had a neon orange bandana and blue tinted goggles where his face should've been, the rest of his head covered by a reflective red plastic cap with earflaps tied beneath his chin.

After greeting Sally and Ace, Monty pounded a meaty paw against Dana's back and exclaimed, "Sorry to hear about what those gorram purple bellies done to you 'n yours, boy. It's exactly that kinda nonsense that we fought the first U-war over. And I guess this second one, too. My missus objected to me enlistin' again though. And I got a family to think of."

"How are Lola 'n the kids?" Zoe questioned pleasantly, her head down against the force of the wind, the green bandana, dark goggles, and black skullcap she wore completely engulfing her head.

Even though Dana couldn't see it, he heard Monty's grin in the man's proud, booming voice. "Lola's happy as a clam with the ranch," he bragged, "And Reno and Esme are gettin' big. They asked me when you're all gonna come by fer a visit."

"Oh, it would be so shiny to go see 'em!" Kaylee beamed, turning her entirely covered head towards the captain. Her pleading stare seemed just as effective even when it couldn't actually be seen.

"Next time we're in the area," Mal promised genially, "I could definitely do with some 'a Lola's fine cookin'."

"This is it," Lenny said, stopping and pointing up at a smooth metal panel about the size of a large square table, "Usually we'd use a lift, 'cuz it's heavy and you gotta take down all four sides at once to make sure it don't bend. But nothin' we got onboard'll do the trick, 'specially not with the sand, so I figure we'll just have to stand on shoulders."

"Sounds doable," Mal commented, glancing around at the group, "How 'bout Zoe on Jayne, Ace on Sally, Lenny on Dana, and me on Monty? Kaylee can wait 'til we've got the panel out, and then she can set up the ladder and get herself in there."

Monty nodded, "Let's get to it then."

The four bases for their insane human totem pole operation moved to stand beneath the four corners of the panel. The top halves followed.

Ace approached her big brother. "Don't drop me," she warned, loud enough to be heard all throughout the group. She stepped into Sally's outstretched hands for a boost to stand gracefully on his shoulders.

With a punched huff and obvious but invisible eye roll, Sally braced her ankles and shouted back, "Don't fall on me!"

Lenny laughed gruffly, sticking his skinny foot into Dana's laced hands for a similar boost. "Your brother and sister, right?" the young man questioned, putting a hand on each of Dana's shoulders for leverage.

The teen smirked, chuckling, "That obvious?"

On a silent count, Lenny stepped and Dana provided the necessary momentum for the young man to make it to stand on his shoulders. He didn't weigh very much at all. "I spend a lot 'a time 'round Monty's two brats," Lenny commented jokingly, steadying himself with his palms flat against the underside of the ship. Kaylee stretched up to hand him a power drill. The young man deftly went to work on unscrewing the panel, adding, "They bicker just like that. It's almost kinda charmin', in an irritatin' sorta way."

Laughing, Dana loudly commented, "That seems to be the general trend. Try living with them on a spaceship for close to a month."

"Like you're a picnic, Mouse," Ace yelled.

Sally nodded--a bob of his bandana and goggles and the slightly ridiculous green knit pom-pom cap Miss River wrestled him into--and agreed, "Ya. Control-freak."

Smirking conspiratorially up at Lenny, Dana stated, "But it's easy to make them get along again. Just give them a common enemy."

"I'll have to remember that trick," Lenny laughed, the sound almost lost over the high, howling screech of the wind. He pocketed the thick bolts as he removed them. When the young man was through with those in his own reach, he tossed the drill to Zoe.

"So," Lenny went on conversationally, holding the loose piece of paneling overhead while he waited for the rest of it to be freed, "Why do they call ya 'Mouse'?"

Dana rolled his eyes. "Because they're a bunch of brats," he stated.

Chuckling, Lenny replied, "That's nice for an abbreviated version, but I'm sure there's a longer story. And seein' as how I'm gonna be stuck holdin' this up for awhile, it'd be a kindness to entertain me by tellin' it."

"They all say it's because I'm tall, so it's ironic, and because my last name, Mao, rhymes with mouse," Dana supplied, laughing to himself but shouting to be heard, "It's really because I snuck up on my sister Hunter one day. She jumped nearly out of her skin and then went on and on about how I walk quiet like a freaky mouse. The name sort of stuck and all my brothers and sisters use it now."

"Cute," Lenny remarked, huffing as he shifted the increasing weight of the panel, "How many you got?"

Physically stopping himself from puffing out his chest with pride, Dana answered, "Nine. You met Sally and Ace over there, and then Merry, Frankie, Jan, Hunter, Kelly, Murphy, and Melody back on the ship."

Zoe freed the last of her bolts and tossed the drill to Mal.

Lenny grunted slightly, shifting some of the weight he was holding. "Gorram," the young man laughed loudly, "You sure been busy, Cobb. How's the little woman feel about the new additions?"

"You kiddin'?" Jayne laughed, wincing as Mal dug his boot tighter into the merc's shoulder, "Riv's over the moon. She loves every last one of 'em."

Dana beamed, finding himself quite ridiculously happy to hear that. Even if it was already pretty obvious.

Snickering, Lenny said, "Good thing then. The ballerina sure is a winner. Not many wives would be so understandin'."

"I ain't never laid claim to a normal wife," Jayne responded fondly.

"What's your story then, Lenny?" Ace challenged, catching the drill from Mal and going to work on the last set of bolts.

Shrugging, the young man replied, "Don't got mucha one. I lived on Greenleaf 'til five years ago when my parents both died in a' influenza outbreak. I been flyin' with Uncle Monty since."

"Monty's your uncle?" Dana questioned, peering up even though the angle and the gear on his face prevented him from seeing very much.

"More like a godfather," Lenny said brightly, "But I've always called him Uncle Monty. Him and my parents grew up together."

"Ok, done," Ace announced, grunting slightly as used one hand to toss the drill down the Kaylee and the other to steady the metal panel. All four sides were now free, and it was entirely up to Ace, Zoe, Mal, and Lenny to hold the thing up. From the way he'd sunk into the fine dirt all the way up to his ankles, Dana had to reason that the part was fairly heavy.

"Shiny," Kaylee stated, setting up her ladder near Dana and Lenny, "Wait 'til I get to the top, then everybody take a step over. I should have enough room to crawl inside. Then you gotta step back right away and try to hold the panel shut so not too much dust gets in. I'll knock once I fix the problem."

"Sure thing," Lenny chimed. The assorted crew performed the operation and then werestuck again in their awkward positions. "Anybody know any good jokes?" Lenny questioned brightly.

Dana sensed rather than saw his sister's broad, impish grin.

"What's the difference between roast meat and pea soup?" Ace challenged.

Laughing, Lenny replied, "Dunno. What?"

Grinning, the blonde girl shouted, "Anybody can roast meat."

Dana groaned, but most of the rest of the group at least twittered. Monty and Lenny let out big guffawing chuckles.

"Where do you find a dog with no legs?" Ace went on, clearly pleased with herself.

Lenny laughed again, playing along, "Dunno. Where?"

"Right where you left him," Ace announced triumphantly.

Again, Dana groaned while most of the rest of the assembled crew snickered fondly. He'd already heard most of Ace's vast collection of Incredibly Stupid Jokes. The girl had, for some odd reason, been collecting them for most of her life.

And so it continued, joke after lame joke, one-liners and puns and other sorts of amusing little anecdotes. Dana was mildly pleased to find that Ace actually had added a few new dirty limericks since last she'd decided to grace him with her entire repertoire.

After what seemed like quite awhile, Kaylee knocked on the panel. Again, the group slid it aside for the mechanic to climb down. "All set," the young woman chirped, "I just gotta reboot the system and make a few more small repairs and she should be fine."

"You're a miracle worker, Kay," Lenny laughed, already at work bolting the panel back into place, "I thought for sure we were cooked this time."

The wind picked up in a sudden, violent burst, spraying what seemed like twice the dust with twice the force. Dana felt like he was being slammed with a brick wall embedded with needles. The ladder toppled while Kaylee was only halfway down it, sending the mechanic sprawling a short distance into the dirt. All of the human totem poles swayed, but Lenny, the only person without a firm two-handed grip on the underside of the ship, completely lose his balance and fell forward off his perch.

Dana's quick reflexes had his arms shooting out in an instant, catching Lenny around the waist before he could hit the sand face first. It was a narrow save that would have been seamless had one more powerful gust of wind not hit Dana right in the back. The oldest Cobb offspring lost his balance and then his footing in the shifting sand, letting Lenny slip the last few inches to the ground and flopping down on top of him, pressing together from shoulder to thigh.

Both men grunted, but, soon after, Lenny turned his head and laughed. "Thanks fer tryin'," he yelled, sounding like he was spitting out mouthfuls of dust and also like he was being crushed. Dana was large and heavy, and Lenny, while tall, didn't feel like he had much bulk to him at all.

"Ya, sorry," Dana shouted back, shifting his weight to his hands and pushing up. He got on his knees, straddling Lenny momentarily before struggling to stand in the still insane winds. He gave Lenny a hand up.

Through hurried gesturing and screamed conversation, they somehow got themselves back into their previous stack. Kaylee handed up the drill, and Lenny finished the bolts. Since tossing the drill wasn't wise any longer, Kaylee toted it around to the other pairs. And then they were done, finally. The group tramped back towards the ship's hatch, hardly able to see and feeling like they were walking against a hurricane, in a line and holding hands to make sure no one got lost.

The relative silence inside the ship's large, vaulted bay was jarring. Dana reveled in it while he began brushing the dust out of his clothing, stripping out of his face coverings and outer layers. Ace had started up with her jokes again. Sally was trying to dig some stray grit from his ears, scowling. Dana looked around for a few minutes, admiring the ship's design, even it if did seem a bit... dark compared to _Serenity_. The metals were all blacks and deep, dominating grays.

When Dana turned to glance at Lenny, he jumped nearly out of his skin. The space where Lenny had been standing just seconds earlier was suddenly occupied by a slim young woman. She had deep gold, fox-slanted eyes and freckles across her nose, a round pink mouth. She was shaking an impossibly long length of black hair out of... out of Lenny's reflective red plastic cap.

What?

While Dana watched, the young woman stripped out of Lenny's orange bandana and his red flannel shirt. Several layers beneath, she was down to a _very_ tight tank top, one that was cropped to just above her bellybutton and dipped into a low, flattering scoop at her ample chest. The shirt had 'LENI' printed near the young woman's left collarbone in sparkling silver and purple glitter. Dana wondered what the letters stood for.

After slowly stretching both her lean arms out over her head--and Dana sincerely hoped he hadn't whimpered but suspected he might've--the young woman turned and gave him a surprised but quite happy grin. Her bright, almost wicked eyes took all of him in from head to toe, slowly, twice for good measure. Then, staring straight at Dana, she winked and called, "Damn, Cobb. You sure do make 'em pretty."

xxXxx

"I'm _bored_," Hunter complained, sprawled on the floor in the bay.

Kelly's bright grin popped into her view of the ceiling. "You want to spar with me?" he asked, hopeful and eager.

Hunter groaned, rolling over onto her stomach. "I'm not _that_ bored," she grumbled.

Her little brother was disappointed for probably about half a second before he perked up again, suggesting, "Murphy and Melody and Gabe and Mr. Wash are trying to teach Serenity to do tricks. We could go help them."

"Ugh," Hunter vetoed, "The more space between me and that creature the better... where are Merry and Frankie?"

It was Kelly's turn to huff, but the boy had never really learned how to do it properly. He didn't stop smiling. "They're reading with Miss Inara and Miss River," the twelve-year-old reported, fondly rolling his bright hazel eyes, "Not even good stories, just like school books. That's _really_ boring."

"Mmm," Hunter hummed, contemplating following Jan's example and taking a nap. She glanced at her big brother's sprawled, drooling form and couldn't help snorting in amusement.

"Just..." the girl suggested, stretching and yawning, "Go get us some cards, runt."

xxXxx

So the _Lenny_ versus _Leni_ mistake was an easy one to make, especially when the young woman had been so covered and the wind had been distorting her throaty voice. Though Dana thought he really should've known better than to assume. He had brothers named Sally and Merry, after all.

And Dana was flustered and embarrassed by the whole messed up situation, not knowing what to do or say. He wasn't... very good with girls. Especially ones who weren't his sisters or the various mother-figures he'd gained on _Serenity_. Especially ones he'd sort of made a fool of himself in front of. Especially ones he could barely take his eyes off.

_Leni_ seemed to somehow figure out that he'd mistaken her for a man and that he was attracted to her, but she didn't let either on too heavily to Sally and Ace. For that, Dana was grateful. His siblings would've never let him hear the end of it.

However, that concession was pretty much the end of Leni's generosity. She teased him all through the afternoon, somehow sneaking up on the Alliance-trained cadet time after time as he helped Miss Kaylee dismantle large portions of the engine. At first, Leni would just press herself against his back and purr something sweet or vaguely dirty into Dana's ear, something like, "Mmm. You look real _swai_ when you concentrate so hard," or, "Can't tell which I like more: lookin' at those hard muscles or feelin' 'em pressin' me into the ground."

Dana would jump and stutter and blush--especially because of the memory that he actually _had_ pressed her into the ground, his front flush against her back and... gorramit.

Miss Kaylee kept giggling, and, again, it was a really good thing Sally and Ace were helping out in another part of the ship because they undoubtedly would've made the awkwardness and embarrassment _so_ much worse.

After awhile, Leni's teasing grew more aggressive. Once, she slid a hand underneath Dana's shirt, ghosted her fingertips across his lower back and made him shiver. "Looks like you're gettin' all hot and sweaty," Leni said, smirking, tongue darting out to wet her plump bottom lip, "Maybe you should take this off."

Dana stuttered for a few long moments.

But that was when Monty walked in, taller than Dana, an odd mix of imposing and genial with his bushy beard and moustache. He huffed and rolled his eyes when he saw where Leni's hand was, when Dana jumped away from the young woman so quickly that he stumbled and ended up nearly taking a header into an open portion of the floor.

"Leni, you leave that poor boy alone," Monty laughed, tugging his goddaughter away by a loop on the back of her worn jeans, "He's got enough trouble in his life without addin' you into it."

"Just havin' some fun, Uncle Monty," the young woman replied, shooting Dana a look that he could only describe as _smoldering_, no matter how cheesy the word made him feel. "Not too often I come across such good stock."

"Lenore," Monty warned, gruff.

That one word was enough to put an end to Leni's teasing, at least for the moment. The young woman huffed, almost the exact same way her godfather had just minutes earlier. "Ya, ya," she grumbled, stomping out of the engine room, "Just don't bitch when we run outta batteries again."

Dana was sure that his face was a horrible shade of red.

Monty just chuckled, shaking his head before asking about Kaylee's progress.

And so the day went. Leni started and stopped her attentions as often as Monty scolded and left her unsupervised. Dana grew more and more embarrassed and frustrated.

"You're real shy around girls, huh?" Miss Kaylee observed, cooing at him like he was a stray pup.

"I- uh- she-" was the most coherent reply Dana managed to come up with.

"She _likes_ you," Miss Kaylee insisted with a great big smile, "Leni comes on strong, but that's just her way. Wouldn't be doin' it at all if she didn't like you to begin with. Don't be so nervous. Try talkin' to her. She's a sweet girl."

Dana coughed and ducked his head, making a small effort to hide his blush. "Thanks," he murmured, "Ya, I'll... I'll try."



xxXxx

And he really did try. The next time he saw Leni was at dinner in the galley of Monty's ship, a ship Dana had discovered was a 06-G81 Criollo class high-bulk transport vessel called _The BFG_. Kaylee had a long rant about how the factory solders weren't worth half a damn and the whole electrical system needed a serious overhaul.

Anyways, at dinner, Dana found himself being manhandled by his brother and sister until he was seated across from Leni. Sally and Ace shot him big, stupid smiles, and Dana knew that they knew and that they were going to tease him mercilessly for years to come. Well, Dana figured, it had to be something.

But then there was Leni, smiling like she had plans to devour the young man across from her. And she, uh, well, she did this thing with her bare foot against Dana's thigh that sort of made him... choke.

Only for a couple seconds. Ace was quick to pound her brother on the back and dislodge the bite he'd inhaled. But, ya, after that, Dana pretty much abandoned the idea of looking up from his bowl. Gorramit, why'd he have to be such a _dork_?

When dinner was over, since the increasingly severe storm was showing no signs of letting up until morning and it had been decided that the _Serenity _crew would spend the night, Ace got a game of tall card going with Jayne, Mal, Zoe, and Monty. Sally sacked out on a dusty couch. Simon went back to his patients. Miss Kaylee went back to the engine room, tutting at Dana when he tried to follow, telling the young man that he'd worked hard all day and should take a break.

Moments later, Leni snuck up beside him again. This time, she only slipped her thin hand into his. "C'mon, _Mouse_," she laughed, smiling wickedly as she dragged Dana away from the galley, "I'll give ya a tour."

Sally whistled and Ace cackled, and Dana thought he might actually die of embarrassment. He made a mental note to ask Ace later if such a thing was possible.

Leni didn't let go of his hand even once as she showed him the ship from bottom to top. The young woman chattered pleasantly and didn't tease quite as much as she had during the afternoon. She was... really, really nice. And she told him slightly more about herself than just the fact that she liked him. Leni would be nineteen in two weeks and was one of the ships guns. She like a sport called hockey that was apparently popular on some frozen worlds, and was deathly allergic to sesame.

She had two pet cats named Edgar and Allan, after some Earth-That-Was poet. Edgar was a fuzzy, fat tortoiseshell; Leni said she'd had him since before she came on the ship. Allan was only a few years old, white all over with soft gray ears and feet and icy blue eyes. Both cats really liked Dana, bouncing off of Leni's bed when they saw him, rubbing up against his legs as they followed through the rest of the tour.

"Uncle Monty only lets me keep 'em cuz he can't say no," Leni laughed, bumping her shoulder lightly against Dana's as he almost tripped over Allan, "And cuz they keep mice off the ship."

"Those are good reasons," Dana responded, quite flustered but not as bad as before. Still, he knew that his face was pretty red. And he was developing a tendency to babble nonsensically. "My sister just got a cat. She named it Serenity, after the ship. It, uh, it doesn't have any hair."

"I should hope the ship doesn't have any hair," Leni challenged, "That would make an awful stink burnin' up on entry."

Dana flushed. "No, I, uh- what I meant was-"

Laughing, Leni responded, "I know what you meant. I was just teasin'." She bumped his shoulder again. "You really need to relax. I ain't gonna bite. Wouldn't wanna mark you up before I have a chance to enjoy you."

Dana was so speechless he thought, vaguely, that he might've been rendered permanently mute, that this girl was going to be the death of him. He found that he didn't mind as much as he probably should have.

"So what's it like? Havin' so many brothers and sisters?" Leni asked after a few long moments, changing the subject. She turned her head and offered a sunny smile, "I was the only kid in my family. Didn't even have no cousins until Uncle Monty's pair. I always wondered what it would be like."

"It's, uh," Dana said, unable to stop himself from grinning, "Mostly great. They have their annoying moments, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. We look out for each other."

"That's real nice," Leni responded, dreamy, "Everybody should have somebody lookin' out for 'em." She dragged Dana along a few more long hallways, pointing out a few more rooms of various purposes before they finally reached the cockpit.

Leni narrated some of the ship's specs and modifications while Dana inspected the control panel. It was bigger and a bit more high-tech than _Serenity_'s but not quite as homey without the plastic dinosaurs scattered over every surface.

The dust storm was still at full force so he couldn't see anything but sickly green out the wide paneled windows, but that was ok. There was more than enough inside to keep the young man occupied. The Criollo had some interesting custom life support systems.

He didn't notice right away when Leni stopped talking. All of a sudden there was just silence. Dana turned to see what was going on and, as soon as he did, found himself being shoved backwards into the pilot's seat. He flailed a bit and then settled.

Leni grinned down at his undoubtedly startled expression, straddling his lap and letting her hands fall to skim his broad shoulders.

Dana stupidly let his own hands just hover midair, not quite knowing what to do with them.

"Kaylee told me you were a trainin' to be a pilot," Leni murmured, smiling and pressing in close, "My mama always said to look out for pilots. Said they weren't nothin' but trouble."

"I'm not," Dana insisted, kind of frozen.

Another one of those wide, wicked smiles broke out across Leni's pretty face. Slow. "I think you are," the young woman insisted, bending forward to drag her plump lips across Dana's stubbly jaw, to whisper in his ear, "I think you're just the right kind a' trouble."

"But I'm not." Dana _really _wanted to just shut up now. But he couldn't seem to make himself. Gorram, first he couldn't talk and then he couldn't stop. Somebody upstairs must've been having a good old chuckle. "I've never been in trouble. Except for the fugitive thing."

Leni stared at him for a few moments then busted up laughing. "Lord, you are _adorable_," she cooed, bending forward and capturing Dana's mouth with her own.

It was... nice. Very nice. Awesome. With the sucking. And the grinding. And the tongue. He still couldn't figure out what to do with his hands, but they seemed to drift to Leni's waist and finely formed backside all on their own. Seemed like an immensely suitable placement. Dana willed himself to stop caring so much and then promptly made his brain turn off. He had no idea he could actually do that.

Felt like a long time him and Leni were kissing, Dana letting instinct do his thinking for him and becoming an active and, from the young woman's sighs and moans, appreciated participant. His hands, big and strong and kneading and skimming, seemed to be a big hit.

And then a wave came in through the cortex. Dana saw the screen light up from behind his closed eyelids, made his eyes open without breaking Leni's kiss. Nearly cross-eyed, looking through a curtain of Leni's soft dark hair, the young man read that the wave was from _Serenity_.

And then he sort of almost dumped Leni out of his lap.

But just almost. He caught her before she could hit the floor, apologizing profusely over the girls surprised, somewhat indignant squeak as he then maneuvered her into the chair in which he'd previously been sitting.

"Sorry," Dana said, pushing the screen to answer the wave, glancing briefly over his shoulder at Leni's sullen pout, "I'm really sorry. That was- It was great. Really great. Thanks. I just have to get this. There could be a problem and-"

Murphy's face appeared amongst some static. "_Mouse_," the little girl immediately whined, in her pajamas and clutching that evil kitten, "_When are you coming home?_"

Dana breathed a sigh of relief, the thousand and one disaster scenarios he'd been envisioning leaving in an instant. "I'm going to come back to the ship in the morning, little one," he soothed, "The dust storm should be over by then."

"_But why can't you come home now?_" Murphy pressed, her big blue eyes getting wide and pitiful, "_I want you to come home_."

"What's the matter?" Dana questioned, concerned and already calculating a way to get himself back to the Firefly, despite the extreme danger involved in wandering around in the current weather.

With a big, gasping breath, Murphy's voice wavered, "_Nothing. I just don't want to go to bed without you here._"

"I'm sorry, little one," Dana responded, feeling like his heart was ripping in two, "You know I'd come back if I could, but it's just not safe right now. You'll be fine, ok? I'll see you in the morning."

"_But I want you to come home now!_" Murphy wailed, hiccupping, squeezing the kitten a little too hard and making the poor, ugly thing yowl, "_It's really windy and dark and scary and the ship keeps shaking and I don't want to go to sleep without you and Sally and Ace and daddy and the captain and Miss Zoe and Miss Kaylee and Dr. Simon here! Please come home, Mouse! Please!_"

The heart-ripping-in-two thing escalated into a heart-being-ripped-from-his-chest thing.

"_Murph! There you are!_" Dana heard. In a few moments, Hunter's face appeared in the vid screen. The blue-haired, befreckled teen slung an arm around her sister and gave her brother an apologetic smile. "_Sorry, Mouse_," she said, "_Murph freaked when she heard you guys weren't coming back tonight. Don't worry about it though. We'll get her calmed down._"

Hunter shifted slightly, seeming to be looking past Dana. The girl grinned impishly, asking, "_Who's your friend?_"

Dana startled and turned and saw Leni, who didn't seem quite as mad as she had a few minutes before. In fact, Leni seemed smitten once again, one step away from snuggling him like he was one of her cats. But she probably wouldn't be anymore if she realized that Dana had sort of forgotten she was there. "This is Leni," he said, smiling at the black-haired young woman, "Uh, Leni, these are my sisters Murphy and Hunter."

"Hey there," Leni greeted, bright and friendly, "Mouse's told me a whole lot about you. Though I didn't believe him about how incredibly pretty you were until just now."

Hunter giggled and even Murphy cracked a small smirk, burrowing against Hunter's side. "_Well, now you know to never doubt the Mouse_," Hunter responded, waggling her ginger eyebrows, "_I'll let you get back to whatever naughty things you were doing to him. Just remember to be gentle. Night, Mouse! Have fun!_"

The wave ended before Dana even had the chance to groan in absolute mortification.

Leni just laughed, reaching out and pushing her fingers through the short hair at the top of his head. "They seem sweet," she observed.

"Most of the time," Dana answered, pride leaking through quite reflexively. He turned back to Leni, kneeling in front of her and the chair. "Sorry about... before," he said, flushing, "I just... they're good most of the time, but-"

"They get in their share a' trouble," Leni finished, offering him another wicked smile, "It's ok. You look out for each other. That don't stop just cuz some new girl wants to jump your bones."

Dana's eyes bugged out of his skull. He tried to say... something. Anything. But he ended up choking once more, on nothing, coughing while Leni snickered.

Eventually, the young woman grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close again, almost pulling him flat on his face before he had the sense to rise up off his knees. He hovered over Leni and braced his hands on the armrests as she brought his mouth down on hers, as one of her hands began to work open his belt buckle.

"You got protection?" she asked, voice low and hitting Dana right in the gut.

Seeming to have not yet turned his brain back on, the young man mumbled, "I left my gun. Didn't want to get dust in it."

He felt Leni's lips twist into a smirk against his own. "Wise man," she laughed, pushing him backwards and taking his hand, leading him out of the cockpit.

"Where are we going?" Dana asked, feeling big and dumb and clumsy, barely noticing that his pants were hanging open.

Leni smiled over her shoulder, fox-slanted eyes full of mischief. "My bunk," the young woman replied, giving Dana's hand a squeeze, "We'll be in my bunk."

xxXxx

Murphy was having trouble settling. Her brothers and sisters didn't completely understand the girl's intense anxiety, but, nevertheless, they tried their best to keep the girl calm, sitting awake in the bay, their bedrolls circled protectively.

Merry figured Murphy was just scared of the storm. It had been getting worse as the night came on, shaking the ship with increasing ferocity, making the nine-year-old whimper and burrow into her brother's side. He drew a hand down her trembling back. "It's ok, Murph," Merry murmured, looking across at his twin for some kind of guidance, "You're fine. It's just some wind. I know it's noisy, but there's nothing to be afraid of."

"How come Mouse can't come home?" Murphy asked, weak and miserable, "And Sally and Ace and daddy and the captain and Miss Zoe and Miss Kaylee and Dr. Simon? What if the other ship blows away with them in it? What if we can't find them again?"

"Aw, _bao bei_," Frankie cooed, petting the girl's short, light pink curls, "I promise that won't happen. Ships are too heavy to blow away. They're all just fine and we'll see them in the morning."

Murphy sniffled, her little voice dropping even lower. "What if the bad people come?" she demanded, "What if they get us or get the others? I don't want to get split up. I don't want to have to go back."

"Not happening," Hunter insisted, cross-legged on top of her bedroll, resting her head on Jan's shoulder, "The purple-bellies were too stupid to keep us and they're too stupid to find us."

Half-asleep but hanging on for Murphy's benefit, Jan proclaimed, "Hell ya they are."

Frankie scolded him for his language, and Kelly snickered.

Murphy took a deep breath and tried to make herself disappear against Merry's side.

xxXxx

"Twenty creds say he choked and slept on the floor."

"I'll take that bet. You underestimate the Mouse. He's got a lot of pent up sexual frustration. It's probably why he's so gorram bossy."

"Of course it is. Doesn't mean he didn't choke. Mouse can barely _talk_ to girls. No way did he _sex_ one."

"Did Leni look like the type of girl who was going to take 'I'm awkward' for an answer?"

"Hmm. Excellent point. But I stand by my original assumption. If anyone could've found a way to screw up such a sure thing, it's Mouse."

Dana wearily forced one of his eyes to open, confused but warm and content. Absolutely exhausted, his whole body loose. He glared in the direction of the muffled voices coming through the door of Leni's bunk, trying to figure out a way to throttle his brother and sister without actually having to get out of the narrow, amazingly comfortable bed.

None came, so he decided to ignore their continued bickering--Ace was trying to goad Sally into upping his bet--and go back to sleep. He closed his eyes, burrowing under Leni's thick patchwork quilt and tightening the arm he had slung around her slim waist. The young woman's long, shapely back pressed more firmly into Dana's chest, skin to skin, and he let his lips rest at the nape of her graceful neck.

After a few moments, she stirred, squirming for a brief moment before managing to turn in the protective cage of Dana's arms. She let her head rest on his shoulder, planting a tired kiss on his chin and tracing the cuts of muscles in his chest. "Knew you were a cuddler," the young woman breathed happily, sounding just as exhausted as Dana felt, her black hair rumpled very attractively. After a moment, she grinned against his flush skin. "Changin' yer name to _Stud_," Leni sighed, "Callin' ya Mouse don't seem right after that performance."

Dana felt his face get hot, but he couldn't help smirking. "Uh, thanks," the young man replied, liking how warm Leni felt nestled against him, all inviting curves and soft, naked flesh.

She laughed, "Pleasure was all mine... you sure that was yer first time?"

"Pretty sure," Dana murmured, feeling his brain struggle to turn itself back on and fighting the gorram thing down. He _liked_ not being awkward, not overthinking and making a fool of himself. He wanted just a few more hours of it. Was that really so much to ask?

"Must be some kinda prodigy," Leni yawned, snuggling closer.

Dana chuckled and fell back into a blissful, sated sleep.

xxXxx

As expected, the dust storm blew over by morning, revealing just how close both ships had come to landing in the middle of a wide, slow river that ran through the shallow canyon. Their inordinate luck at ending up on a bank just a few dozen yards away was scary at first, but everyone got over it quick. The water had already run clear and, as the planet's double suns rose higher and hotter into the sky, looked infinitely cool and inviting.

"Mouse! Mouse!" Kelly shouted, running towards _The BFG_ in his underwear, ridiculous cartoon character briefs he'd insisted upon during their shopping trip, "MOUSE!! Can we go swimming?!"

Dana grunted and caught Kelly when the boy took a flying leap into his chest. "As long as the captain says it's ok," the oldest Cobb kid replied, grinning brightly, "Did you ask for a check of water toxicity and hostile life forms?"

"Ya," Kelly beamed, wriggling out of his brother's grip. He was greasy and slippery. "Wash scanned it and said it was safe. Everyone else is going swimming, and Captain Mal said we could too if you said we were allowed."

Smiling, Dana put Kelly on the ground and patted the frizzy blonde cornrows woven into the boy's hair. "Alright then," he chuckled, "Then it's fine. Be careful and make sure one of the older kids stays with you. Put on some of my UV-blocker before you go in. Don't use the spray stuff Frankie bought. It's not strong enough for you."

"Already did," Kelly grinned, turning and running back towards _Serenity_, shouting at the figures emerging from the hatch in similar states of half-dress, "MERRY!! MOUSE SAID WE COULD GO!!"

"Shiny!" Merry replied, leading a charge of swim-ready kids out of the ship. He ran towards the water, tossing Murphy's giggling little form high into the air. Dana was glad to see that her late-night fears seemed to have been taken care of, but he couldn't help feeling slightly guilty. His sister had needed him, and he'd been off... well, having a lot of fun.

Speaking of which, Leni chose that moment to turn up near Dana's elbow, sliding her hand into his and giving him a smile that seemed about twice as gorgeous in full sunlight. "You gonna swim?" the young woman challenged happily.

"Ya," Dana replied, not feeling quite as awkward as he thought he was going to, "But I told the captain that I'd help Miss Kaylee do a check of the ships' exteriors first, make sure nothing got damaged."

Sally and Ace shoved past them, hollering excitedly as they, too, began stripping and sprinted for the water.

"Alright, but you hurry," Leni said, unbothered, rising up on her tiptoes to press a quick kiss on his cheek. She dropped the teen's hand and ran off towards the river and the crowd of rowdy kids already there, peeling off her tight tank top and shimmying out of her jeans.

Ya, Dana was _definitely_ going to hurry.

Jayne walked past, grinning proudly, and clapped his son on the back hard enough to have sent a smaller man sprawling into the pale green sand.

xxXx

"Ladies and gentlemen, the name of the game is 'Catch the Greased-Up Ginger Kid,'" Jan announced, looking quite pleased with himself as the water beaded down his bare chest and into the waistband of his striped boxer shorts, "Scoring will be done on a point system based on how many seconds you can hold onto the greased-up ginger kid. One point per second. Points will be multiplied based on the quality of the hold. Times two for a shoulder or waist lock, three for a headlock, five if you can get a full-body pin, ten if you make her tap out. No bonus for hanging onto limbs. Are we ready?"

Everyone stared at Jan for a few long moments, wondering where in the gorram hell he came up with such an absurd game.

Hunter glared at her brother, wearing just a blue bra and a pair of denim shorts as a swim suit, her pale, freckled body slick with Mouse's extra-strength UV-blocker. Frankie had insisted she use the greasy cream rather than the light spray almost everyone else got.

"I hate you," Hunter told Jan, matter-of-fact.

The boy grinned, asking, "Why? I think it'll be way fun!"

"Me too!" Kelly chirped, his pale skin also covered in the greasy cream UV-blocker. He jumped up and down in the water a few times, kicking and splashing, "I'll be the greased-up ginger kid if you don't want to."

Despite herself, Hunter broke into a slight smile. "Thanks, Kel, but I think you're too little," she said, turning her ireful stare back on Jan, "Some idiot whose name rhymes with _hun-dan_ might drown you."

"Watch that mouth," Frankie warned, docile, floating on her back in about two feet of cool water. She was also wearing denim shorts and a pale yellow bra that made her skin seem very tan.

Hunter scowled. Most of her siblings tanned. Only Hunter, Kelly, and Mouse didn't and always had to use real full-strength UV-blocker to keep from getting fried bright red. Everyone else, even Melody, Gabe, and the triplets, could get away with just a mild, light spray form to prevent skin cancer. And it wasn't fair.

"He's just lucky I don't deck him," Hunter replied, folding her arms across her thin chest. She glared at the way Ace and Frankie filled out their bras and added one more thing to the list of reasons to be jealous of her sisters.

The girl from the wave last night, Leni, came jogging over in just a black bra and panties. Most of the boys stared at her, gaping stupidly. The triplets gave her a set of flirtatious grins that looked sort of creepy on six-year-olds.

Hunter decided to hate her and her big dumb boobs.

"Hey, ya'll," she greeted, her voice kind of throaty, her smile wide, "I'm Leni."

Kelly was the first to speak, beaming, "Hi, I'm Kelly! Are you Mouse's friend?"

Of course Hunter hadn't kept the wave to herself. How could she? It was Mouse, after all. With a _girl_. One whom he may or may not have _sexed_. She wasn't sure which outcome to put her money on just yet.

"That I am, little man," Leni replied, flipping her long black hair off her shoulder, "It's nice to meet ya." She took a brief moment to leer at Sally's tattoo before turning to Murphy, who was holding onto Merry's hand. "Hey, sweetie," the young woman stated brightly, "You 'member me from last night?"

Murphy nodded, hiding her eyes behind her curly pink bangs and her body behind her big brother. She wore polka-dotted underwear and an oversized white undershirt of Hunter's.

"Did you get to sleep alright?" Leni asked.

Again, Murphy nodded, regarding Leni with some suspicion as she murmured, "Merry let me sleep in his bedroll."

"That was nice of him," Leni said, offering her hand out to him, "I take it you're Merry then?"

"The one and only," he replied, his hair bright violet and dripping water into his honey brown eyes, "It's nice to meet you."

Leni smiled at him and then at his twin, "And you must be Frankie." Then at the still speechless Jan, "And Jan."

Frankie made a small noise in the back of her throat, not seeming to want to move from her lazy float.

"H-Ey," Jan squeaked, blushing.

Leni gave him one more blinding smile before turning her attention onto Gabe, Melody, and the triplets. "Wow, ya'll got so big since the last time I saw ya," she said, "How's it been with the new baby?"

"Adhara's ok," Lukas replied, shrugging his bare, bony shoulders, "She doesn't really do anything except for cry and eat and poop. Mama says she'll be funner in a few more years."

"Course she will be," Leni laughed, "That's how babies work. You three used to be little poop machines, and look how ya'll turned out... so we playin' a game or somethin'?"

Jan cleared his throat, announcing, "Well, I wanted to play 'Catch the Greased-Up Ginger Kid,' but Hunter's being a wuss."

Hunter scowled and considered throwing a rock at her brother's ugly face. She fought down the urge, knowing Mouse would have her doing chores in the ship's hot interior all day if she did. "I object to its inherently offensive nomenclature and racial persecution," the girl stated haughtily, because she knew Jan was bothered by words he didn't understand.

Plus, maybe Hunter would get the added bonus of outing Leni as a moron, too.

"What if we call the game 'Escape of the Titian Warrior Princess'?" Leni suggested, smiling sweetly, "We could all be mean water monsters you gotta get away from on your quest for a great big treasure."

Hunter narrowed her eyes. Being a warrior princess didn't actually sound half bad. And she was impressed that Leni seemed to know words like "nomenclature" and "titian." Even if Hunter's hair was currently blue so "titian" didn't actually apply. "Ok," Hunter reluctantly agreed, leaning towards liking Leni again. The teen backed away from the crowd, grinning and getting ready to run, "Catch me if you can!"

xxXxx

A shadow fell across Zoe's closed eyes. She opened them to find Mal standing nervously over her, struggling to hold onto his greased-up daughter. The dark little girl probably didn't need the full-strength UV-blocker. Nevertheless, Mal had insisted upon it.

"Sir?" Zoe asked, warm and sleepy, fighting down a laugh at the sight of the captain wearing shorts.

Mal sat down beside her on the riverbank, pale green sand sticking to his bare, obscenely pale calves. "Just enjoyin' the view," he said, watching the rowdy crowd of kids splashing in the river. Jayne was running over to join in, carrying his own River slung over his shoulder, caveman style. Kaylee, Monty, and Dana weren't far behind. Wash was hollering and laughing and rolling his wheelchair right into the water. Even Simon had reluctantly abandoned his patients, settling down beside Inara in the shade near _Serenity_.

Zoe hummed and stretched, chuckling, "Turned into a good detour, sir. More 'a these kind certainly wouldn't go unappreciated."

"Ya," Mal agreed, keeping a tight grip on Adhara's wriggling little body, "But we got a long vacation comin' up on us anyways. We get to see the Cobb homestead."

Zoe laughed, "Should be interestin'. Any place that could produce a man like Jayne needs to be studied in some depth... how long you thinkin' on us stayin'?"

Shrugging, Mal replied, "I'll play it by ear. Gonna be hard leavin' 'em there no matter what."

Smiling to herself, Zoe teased, "You like those kids. They grew on ya."

"Ya," Mal snorted, fond and somewhat wistful, "Like a fungus."

xxXxx

The goodbyes that night came too soon, but Simon had reported that Monty's ailing crew would be waking shortly and there was no other logical way to keep them from seeing the fugitives.

Leni kept sadly saying, "Fayiz would definitely turn ya'll in. He's a greedy little _hun-dan_." She sort of molested Dana in the ship's doorway, while his siblings whistled and catcalled.

Sally shelled out twenty creds each to Ace, Hunter, Kaylee, and Ben.

Blushing, Dana politely promised Leni that he would write.

Wash talked the young man through a flawless takeoff sequence, and then _Serenity_ was in the sky once more.

That night, Dana couldn't sleep. He was slightly sunburned and too warm, and the bay floor was really not anywhere as comfortable as Leni's bunk, cold and hard. And he was trying to figure out if he felt... different.

Eventually a soft rustle in the crowd of sleeping bodies broke him out of his thoughts.

Murphy crawled carefully through the dark bay and wriggled her way into Dana's bedroll. "Mouse?" the little girl whispered, coming dangerously close to kicking him a very sensitive area, "Are you awake?"

"Sure am, little one," he responded, giving his sister a tight squeeze, "You alright? You didn't really talk to me at all today."

The girl was silent for awhile, fidgeting with a loose thread. "You're never gonna go away for real, are you?" Murphy finally asked, voice small and scared, "Like, go away and not come back?"

"Never," the young man replied fiercely, "No matter what, I'll never, _ever_ leave you."

"What if it's not on purpose?" Murphy pressed, "What if you don't mean to, but you do anyways? What happens then? How are we gonna find each other again?"

"I'll always find you," Dana reassured her, pressing a lingering kiss to the girl's sun-warm forehead, "I've got big brother radar."

Murphy giggled and sighed, "You do not."

"Of course I do," Dana argued, "It comes with the job. No matter what, I'll always find you or any of the others if we get separated. But don't worry so much, ok? We're going to be together from now on. No one's ever going to break us apart."

Relaxing noticeably, Murphy muttered, "'K." She settled down against her brother and fell right asleep.

Dana stayed awake for a long time afterwards.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

swai - cute

bao-bei - sweetheart

hun-dan - son of a bitch

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Siddhartha - a name meaning "he who has attained his goals" or "every wish fulfilled;" Prince Siddhartha Gautama was Buddha's name before he renounced it.

BFG - stands for 'Big Friendly Giant,' a character in a Roald Dahl book of the same name.

Criollo - a breed of South American horses known for their long-distance endurance and adaptations to both extreme heat and cold.

Stud - a male animal used for breeding.

Titian - a shade of reddish-brown named for an Italian painter who was fond of painting models with red hair.

So it's that time again. Finals time. And I have ridiculous amounts of work I should be doing instead of posting fanfic. But we all know how that story ends. Heh. Anyways, I really don't know why I had Dana nail some random chick, in case people were curious. That's just what my freaky brain was insisting happened next. And I long ago stopped trying to resist the whims of my freaky brain. Bad things happen if I do. Serious. In the following chapter, I'm pretty sure people can look forward to _Serenity _finally making it to the Cobb homestead. Hopefully, since summer will be commencing soon, I won't be quite as long with the update. And, remember, reviews are ten kinds of awesome.


	12. Part 12: Kin

Part 12 - Kin

They were all there, all the kids and grandkids, trying not to get their uncomfortable church clothes too dirty while they waited. The day was hot, and the ship was late.

She felt a tug on her skirt. "Gramma," Colt whispered, worry pouring off the girl in waves, "I can't 'member all the names."

Samuela Cobb smiled at her granddaughter, her daughter Tess's youngest. She was twelve-years-old, skinny and freckled. And she took after her daddy, worrying on everything all the time 'til she damn near made herself sick with it. Sam loved the girl but was thankful she was the only Sheridan child to take after Nigel rather than Tess. "You want me to write 'em down for you, baby?" Sam Cobb teased, chuckling and combing her gnarled fingers through the girl's sleek black hair. It shined almost crimson in the sun.

Colt shook her head, pert mouth turned down in a thoughtful frown. "I'll 'member this time," she claimed, her ears slightly too big for the rest of her, hazel eyes bright, "Just tell 'em to me one more time."

"Alright," Sam said, beckoning the girl toward the steps of the porch. Sam was spry for a sixty-one-year-old, but damned if stooping to sit didn't make her slim hips twinge. "Dana's the oldest and he looks the most like your Uncle Jayne," she explained, hugging her grandbaby close, laughing at the serious expression on the girl's face, "The others like to call him Mouse, but you probably shouldn't try doin' that til you get to know him better. Salvatore is next. He's the tallest, and he likes to be called Sal or Sally, as long as nobody makes fun 'cuz he's got Jaynie's temper. Then comes Ace, she's the oldest girl. She's tall and blonde and real purty. She likes to play cards and get into trouble."

Sam smiled, not feeling she needed to add another 'just like my Jayne' to the description. She looked out across the wide sunny field in front of the house she'd lived in for the last forty years. She watched her children and their spouses--the remaining two, anyways--standing in clusters, talking and laughing and eager.

"Meredith and Frances are next," Sam went on, pressing a kiss to Colt's temple, winding the girl's long hair through her gnarled fingers, "They're twins, like Jem n' Ruby. Merry's the boy and Frankie's the girl. They got brown hair and they like dancin'. Then comes Jan. He's got brown hair, too, and Jayne told me that he likes to laugh. After him is Hunter. She's a redhead." Sam smiled. "Like I used to be, 'fore it all went white. Jayne said she's geniusy smart. Likes to build things."

Sam watched her grandchildren. Billy and Retta were wrestling on the ground again, both of them far too old for it. They'd bloodied each other's noses and blackened each other's eyes more times than anybody bothered to keep track of when they were kids. Now that they were full grown--physically, anyways--they could probably do a lot more damage. Ethan was calmly, silently trying to pull the pair apart.

Nearby, Ruby was laughing while Tristan and Zion played keep-away with Winnie's hair ribbon. Poor Winnie looked like she was seconds away from taking a swing at one or all of them, red-faced and frustrated, her brown hair disheveled. Lijah was following Sadie while the baby chased a bright orange butterfly through the high prairie grass. Jem, as usual, had his nose in a book. Such a quiet, quiet boy, almost more so than Ethan, if that was even possible.

"Kelly's got blonde curly hair," Sam went on, blue eyes searching the sky, "Jayne said he talks a lot and he's got lots a' energy. And he's yer age, so I'm sure you two'll be great friends. And then there's Murphy. She's got blonde curls, too. She likes playin' dinosaurs with Gabe. He's the pilot Wash and first mate Zoe's boy. I guess he don't say too much. And you seen pictures a' Melody. She's the youngest of the bunch. The other three boys onboard are triplets. Lukas has dark hair. Ben has brown hair. Noah has red hair. There's a baby onboard, too. Her name's Adhara and she was just born 'bout four weeks ago."

"What about the rest a' the crew, Gramma?" Colt pressed, picking obsessively at a freckle on her knee, "I gotta know their names too, if they're gonna be stayin' fer awhile."

Sam stilled the girl's twitching hand and grinned. "'Course, hun," she agreed, "Well, Adhara's parents are Captain Reynolds and Miss Inara. Captain Reynolds owns the boat they're all flyin' on. He's a browncoat. Miss Inara's a fancy lady from the core. And then you got Dr. Tam. He's your Auntie River's big brother and the triplets' daddy. His wife, the triplets' mama, is the ship's mechanic and her name is Kaylee. Jaynie says she's real sweet. And I think that's it. Did you get all that?"

Jerking her pointed chin down into a quick nod, Colt replied, "Ya, it's just a lot of new people. It's hard to 'member but I think I did this time."

"That's good, baby girl," Sam laughed. She saw a white streak appear across the sky, knew from experience that it was the trail made by a ship entering atmo. The old woman grinned. Her baby and his babies were home.

xxXxx

"Ouch! No! Stop it! Mouse!!"

Dana had to physically restrain himself from looking away from _Serenity_'s windshield and controls when Murphy--clad in a shapeless, short-sleeve purple dress--hurled herself into his lap.

"Ace keeps pulling my hair!" the little girl exclaimed tearfully, jaw-length, pale pink-blonde locks frizzy and disheveled, "She's bad at making braids! I want you to do it, Mouse! Please? You don't pull!"

He could just barely make out Ace's reflection in the windshield glass when she jogged up a few moments later, a comb in her hands and a frustrated expression twisting her pretty features. Her shoulders were tan and bare in the simple sky-blue halter dress she wore.

Dana froze, momentarily overwhelmed by the new elements in the already stressful situation.

"You're fine," Wash reassured from the co-pilot's seat, patting the young man's arm, "The vector's fine. Just keep doin' what you're doin'."

Dana swallowed hard and nodded, laughing nervously. "I'm kind of busy right now, little one," he soothed, "Let me finish landing us and then I'll take care of your hair."

"'K," Murphy hummed, making herself comfortable in the young man's lap. Peeking over Dana's broad shoulder, she stuck her tongue out at Ace.

Chuckling, Wash leaned over and transferred the girl to his own knee. "Let's give your brother some room," the pilot suggested cheerfully, "Landing a spaceship is hard work."

"'K," Murphy reluctantly agreed. Moments later, her expression perked up, and she asked, "Can I land next time?"

"No," Ace growled, "Gorram brat! There's nothing wrong with how I braid hair!"

"Except the resulting bald spots," Hunter chimed as she arrived on the bridge, ducking under Ace's arm when the older girl took a halfhearted swing. Hunter just smiled, wearing clunky combat boots and a light green sundress. Her short hair was gelled into the spiky fauxhawk style she now favored, faintly lavender-red from the faded blue juice she'd used to dye it a few weeks ago.

Dana gave a strained chuckle at his sisters' antics, still trying desperately to concentrate on guiding the ship in for landing. "It's alright, Ace," he said, "I'll take care of Murph once we're on the ground. Go make sure the rest are dressed."

Ace scowled, long blonde hair pulled back with a plastic flower barrette at the nape of her neck. "I didn't do it wrong!" she insisted, visibly catching herself before she could stomp her foot, "Murph's just sucking up! You shouldn't encourage her!"

"And _you_ should stop living in denial," Hunter teased, smoothing her dress against her pale freckled thighs, leaning against the back of Dana's chair and prodding him in the neck just to be irritating, "It's only hair, Ace. It's not like you suck at life because you can't braid hair."

"_Bi-zui_," Ace growled, brandishing the comb in a threatening manner, "I can too braid hair! Murph's being a baby and you're being a jerk!"

Calmly as he could manage while he was in charge of several tons of metal careening nose-first towards the ground, Dana stated, "You don't have to be nervous."

For a brief moment, the tall blonde was completely floored. Then she went back to being completely irate. "I'm not _nervous_!" she declared, face going red before she turned and stormed away, "I'm _pissed off_! ARGH!!" She passed Sally as she was stomping into the hallway. The girl made sure to slam her shoulder hard into his.

"Ow! What'd I do?" Sally grumbled, tugging at the stiff collar of his white button-down shirt. The faint shape of his two-week-old eagle tattoo was just barely visible through the new fabric.

"Nothing," Dana answered, arms tense at the yolk, "It's nerves. You know how she gets."

Smirking, the taller teen remarked, "Like that time she talked herself into being freaked about taking her field medic exam and then screamed at Jan until he cried?"

"Nobody made me cry!" Jan exclaimed as he, too, arrived on the bridge. He pulled a face at Sally and also began fidgeting with the collar of his red and blue striped dress shirt, "We had high winds that day and a bunch of dust blew into my eyes! I had a scratched cornea! Ace even said so!"

Hunter giggled. "No need to be embarrassed," she told her brother, slinging an arm around his shoulders, popping open the top buttons of both his and Sally's shirts, "The Bitch is strong with that one."

Glaring, Jan elbowed the girl and stated, "You're lucky I don't hit people in dresses."

Hunter beamed at her brother, replying, "You're lucky I don't hit women."

Jan growled.

"No fights," Dana ordered, grunting and coming close to panic as the vessel shook around him. "Wash?"

"You're fine," the pilot reassured, chipper and quite proud, "Just some normal knocks. Remember to go easy on the thrusters when you start to brake."

"Right," Dana said, nodding. He listened to the sounds of Hunter and Jan bickering behind him, Sally holding them apart while Murphy and Wash laughed. The young man fought a smirk. "Watch how I soar..."

xxXxx

"Is this right?" Merry asked, catching up with his father in the cargo bay and presenting the man with a few pages of neat, careful block print, lists and charts and tables and one color-coded tree.

Jayne took the papers from his son, looked them over:

_Grandparents - _

_Ariel Michael Cobb, dec. 2516, stroke. Gray hair, green eyes, fair skin, tall, muscular build. Farmer/rancher. See wife: Samuela. See children: William, Teresa, Jayne, Hannah, Matthew._

_Samuela Patricia Cobb nee Tehrani, 61. White hair, blue eyes, medium skin, average height, slim build. Seamstress, housewife, sharpshooter. Answers to "Gramma." See husband: Ariel. See children: William, Teresa, Jayne, Hannah, Matthew._

_Uncles - _

_William James Cobb Sr., 40. Brown hair, green eyes, medium skin, tall, muscular build. Farmer/rancher. Junkyard owner, mechanic. Retired hovercraft racer, multi-planet champion 2508-2513. See wife: Alma. See children: William Jr., Ethan, Tristan, Reuben, Jeremiah._

_Nigel Henry Sheridan, 40. Black hair, brown eyes, dark skin, average height, slim build. Preacher at local church, unknown Christian denomination. See wife: Teresa. See children: Beretta, Winchester, Colt._

_Quentin Abraham Wu, dec. 2523, heart attack. Blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, average height, muscular build. Owned and operated restaurant/bar, The Chariot. See wife: Hannah. See children: Zion, Elijah._

_Matthew Steven Cobb, 34. Brown hair, green eyes, fair skin, tall, slim build. Farmer/rancher. Former miner, developed damp-lung. Answers to "(Uncle) Matty." See ex-wife: Nasim. See children: Sadie._

_Aunts - _

_Alma Su Cobb nee Nazarian, 39. Black hair, brown eyes, dark skin, average height, slim build. Teacher, grades 11-12. See husband: William Sr. See children: William Jr., Ethan, Tristan, Reuben, Jeremiah._

_Teresa Maria Sheridan nee Cobb, 39. Auburn hair, green eyes, fair skin, average height, average build. Sheriff, tracker, sharpshooter. Answers to "(Aunt) Tess." See husband: Nigel. See children: Beretta, Winchester, Colt._

_Hannah Lynn Wu nee Cobb, 35. Brown hair, green eyes, fair skin, average height, average build. Owns and operates restaurant/bar, The Chariot. See husband: Quentin. See children: Zion, Elijah._

_Nasim Nicola Nguyen, 32. Black hair, blue eyes, fair skin, average height, slim build. Abandoned husband and daughter shortly after daughter's birth, has not been seen/heard from since. See ex-husband: Matthew. See children: Sadie._

Jayne stopped after the first page and couldn't help laughing. "Dana actually wrote it all out," he observed, bemused, "Kinda wondered why he's been grillin' me so hard 'bout everybody back home."

Merry shrugged. He was wearing brand new blue jeans and a crisp green collared shirt. It clashed rather horribly with the fading violet dye in his short hair. "It's our training," the young man said, "Trying to know as much about a new situation as you can before going into it. I've noticed that Mouse's stress level drops significantly when he has some training to rely on... so is it really right? We have cousins named after guns?"

Jayne scanned the part of the notes that included his nieces and nephews:

_Cousins - _

_William James Cobb Jr., 19. Brown hair, hazel eyes, medium skin, tall, muscular build. Mechanic, works in father's shop and junkyard. Part-time hovercar racer, multi-planet circuit. Answers to "Billy." See parents: William Sr., Alma. See siblings: Ethan, Tristan, Reuben, Jeremiah._

_Ethan Alejandro Cobb, 16. Black hair, green eyes, medium skin, tall, muscular build. Part-time work-study in town library. Deaf and mute since age 3, red fever. ASL fluent. See parents: William Sr., Alma. See siblings: William Jr., Tristan, Reuben, Jeremiah._

_Tristan Domingo Cobb, 14. Black hair, green eyes, dark skin, tall, slim build. Disciplinary problems. See parents: William Sr., Alma. See siblings: William Jr., Ethan, Reuben, Jeremiah._

_Reuben Alma Cobb, 7. Brown hair, green eyes, medium skin, short, slim build. Twins with Jeremiah. Answers to "Ruby." See parents: William Sr., Alma. See siblings: William Jr., Ethan, Tristan, Jeremiah._

_Jeremiah Luis Cobb, 7. Black hair, green eyes, medium skin, short, slim build. Twins with Reuben. Answers to "Jem." See Parents: William Sr., Alma. See siblings: William Jr., Ethan, Tristan, Reuben._

_Beretta Rose Sheridan, 17. Auburn hair, green eyes, medium skin, tall, average build. Competitive sharpshooter, junior multi-planet champion 2523-2526. Dating Shen Hennessy, son of general store owner. Answers to "Retta." See parents: Nigel, Teresa. See siblings: Winchester, Colt._

_Winchester Mei Sheridan, 14. Brown hair, brown eyes, medium skin, short, slim build. Sociable and friendly. Answers to "Winnie." See parents: Nigel, Teresa. See siblings: Beretta, Colt._

_Colt Ariel Sheridan, 12. Black hair, hazel eyes, medium skin, short, slim build. Worries obsessively (OCD?). See parents: Nigel, Teresa. See siblings: Beretta, Winchester._

_Zion Atticus Wu, 14. Brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin, tall, muscular build. Disciplinary problems. See parents: Quentin, Hannah. See siblings: Elijah._

_Elijah Lynn Wu, 7. Blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin, short, slim build. Likes horses. Answers to "Lijah." See parents: Quentin, Hannah. See siblings: Zion._

_Sadie Nasim Cobb, 3. Black hair, blue eyes, fair skin, toddler. Abandoned by mother. See parents: Matthew, Nasim. _

"Ya, they're named after guns," Jayne finally answered, a little caught up in Dana's obsessive list. Gorram, he hadn't seen the boy with a pen and paper when they were talking. Had he really remembered all that? No, he couldn't have. There was some stuff in the notes that Jayne hadn't told his son. The boy'd probably been on the cortex during watch. Jayne went on, "My big sister Tess is a little crazy 'bout her weaponry, even more so than me."

"Well, she is a sheriff," Merry laughed, fidgeting with his wrinkled collar, "And married to a preacher. Sounds like an interesting arrangement."

"Ain't that the truth," Jayne answered, leafing through the notes. He looked up at his son, seriously stating, "I didn't know Dana was on recon. Ya'll could've come asked me, too, if you wanted to know about 'em. Or anything else. Any time."

"The rest of us aren't really worried," the teenager said, "Except for Ace, and that's kind of unavoidable. She just gets freaked out sometimes. I mean, the girl can bluff her way through a high-stakes hand with nothing but a pair of twos, but certain stuff has a tendency to get her riled up." He shrugged. "And I guess Mouse is just too anal not to try to get every little detail he can. And he gave orders that we should all look over the dossier before we landed, and I'm kind of the last to get it."

Jayne chuckled, questioning, "Well, did it help?"

"Mouse's information is always thorough," Merry replied, grinning from ear to ear, "Me and Frankie were way ahead in lessons just from reading his notes. We got bumped two class levels, got to take all advanced courses, and graduated academics early. We were slated for intelligence or tech, like Hunter. But we thought being jumpers would be more fun and fixed our answers when we took the final aptitude tests. It's why they let us start the paratrooper training when we were only fifteen. We were the youngest ever to be allowed. Mouse was pretty pissed though. He didn't want us doing it. He said we would've been better off safe and snug inside some cruiser, thinking up battle plans or something, but it just didn't seem right. Then it would've been us sending people to get killed."

As was usual when his children's time in the hands of the Alliance came up, Jayne clenched his jaw. Hard. But he fought through his rage. There was no need to take it out on Merry. Besides, the boy actually sounded quite proud of his accomplishments. And there weren't nothing wrong with that. Didn't make the boy and his sister any less brilliant or talented just 'cuz the purple-bellies were pulling the strings. "Well, you let me know if there's anythin' not on there you wanna know," the merc stated, smiling tightly, "'Bout anythin'."

"The gun names were it," Merry replied, almost giggling, "I thought Mouse had made a mistake somehow and we were all going to end up calling three girls Beretta, Winchester, and Colt. That wouldn't have made such a good impression if it was wrong."

Jayne chuckled, clapping his son on the boy's strong shoulder. "You pro'lly ain't gonna be callin' 'em that anyhow," the man said, "Everybody calls Beretta 'Retta' and Winchester 'Winnie.'"

"Ya, Mouse has a whole subsection here on nicknames," Merry reported, still looking greatly amused by his big brother's extensive research and compulsive organization, "And the baby-name betting pool thing is pretty neat. I'll bet Ace would've enjoyed it, if she'd actually read instead of just saying she had."

"I figured yer sister might like that," Jayne observed, "I'll have to make sure 'n tell her myself. She'll pro'lly laugh at how much money Ma lost over me bein' born a boy."

"Ya," Merry agreed brightly, "But, hey, Gramma called four out of five kids, and doubled down locking into the gender-specific names. That's a pretty great track record."

"And she guessed most 'a the grandkids right, too," Jayne added, peering at Dana's list, "Cleaned up on Elijah and Reuben turnin' out to be girls. I think she was only wrong with Sadie, that's Matty's baby. Ma said she couldn't tell 'cuz Sadie's mama was a lyin' cheat. She done run off the week after Sadie was born."

"That sucks," Merry tutted. The boy brightened up again just moments later, offering, "But at least she didn't take Sadie with her."

Jayne gave a bitter chuckle, remarking, "Wouldn'ta made it very far if she'd done that. My whole family woulda been after her."

Merry smirked, commenting, "I'll bet."

Before the boy could say anything more, Ace came stomping noisily onto the catwalks. She was doing an odd huffing-growling-muttering thing that Jayne was fairly sure meant his daughter was _not_ in a good mood.

Indeed, when she saw her father, the girl spared him only the briefest of death glares before addressing her younger brother, "Mer, where'd Kelly get off to? He'll let me do _his_ hair."

"Uh..." Merry replied, sounding as confused as Jayne felt, "He's... hanging out with the triplets in their room. Sally was in there, too, but I think he went up to harass Mouse."

Ace huffed and stomped towards the stairs, grumbling, "That's just great! As if I hadn't experienced enough crash landings in my life!"

Like he'd do when encountered with an enraged and/or rabid animal, Jayne tried to remain still and silent until his daughter disappeared down into the Tam family quarters. Merry, wisely, followed his father's lead.

Once Ace was gone, both men let out the breaths they were holding. "She's frightening when she's freaked," Merry commented, keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard and direct any of his sister's irrational anger upon himself, "Last time she was like this, she made Jan cry." The boy flashed a peppy grin, adding, "But I'll bet she'll be sweet as lychee before nightfall."

Laughing, Merry gathered his papers and sauntered off in the direction of the bridge.

Jayne breathed deep, more than a little nervous himself. And he hoped this would go alright. Or at least without any _major _catastrophes.

xxXxx

Wash was beaming, his broad chest puffed out with pride as he watched his protégé with a slightly dewy expression.

Dana still felt kind of ill, even ten minutes after pulling off a flawless landing in a large fallow field on the outskirts of Gramma Cobb's land. The young man was doing his best to struggle into the pale blue collared shirt that the salesgirl on Cinnabar gushed made his eyes look "_so dreamy_!"

He felt heat rise in his cheeks just thinking about it.

Stepping through the various throngs of chaos in the cargo bay, Frankie approached her brother with a smile. Her dress was yellow, gauzy and strappy and printed with small white flowers. It clung to her long, tan thighs. Unhappy with rapidly growing roots, she'd submitted to having her long hair dyed back to rich brown. Dana liked it because she looked like just Frankie again. He'd already buzzed the blonde from his own hair. Sally had done the same with his deep red stubble, and Ace had dyed her long locks back to blonde. Most of the rest were in the process of fading out, and Dana preferred it that way. Preferred them all to look like themselves and no one else.

"Feeling ok, Mouse?" Frankie laughed, playfully swatting Dana's hands away from his shirt buttons and replacing them with her own, "You look a little pale."

"Just, uh," he coughed, awkward, anxious, aware of Sally whispering and giggling with the triplets, Jan and Hunter wrestling each other into simultaneous headlocks, Murphy and Melody arguing fiercely while Gabe looked on, Ace berating Merry for stepping on her foot, whirling on the captain when he tried to intervene and reducing the browncoat to a wide-eyed, terrified silence.

"Just..." Dana went on, offering a weak smirk, "I-I didn't crash."

Frankie looked up from the buttons, fastening all except one as she rose on her tiptoes and leaned forward to peck the young man on the cheek. "Of course not," she laughed, smoothing material against his broad shoulders, "We all knew you could do it. You're a natural. Right, Wash?"

"Oh ya," the pilot contributed, his smile stretched wide. He sniffled and wiped his eyes, choked up as he added, "I'm so very gorram proud."

Despite the persistent nausea, Dana found himself breaking into a happy grin. He tugged his sister into a tight hug, picking her up off her feet and swinging her around a few times just because he was so very gorram happy.

"Mouse! Mouse!" Kelly giggled, bouncing around the pair, occasionally tugging on Dana's crisp new jeans, "Miss Zoe says we can go soon! She says there's two hovercrafts coming out to meet us!"

"Shiny," Dana replied, finally relenting and letting Frankie go. She was flush with laughter and stayed hanging onto his arm.

Turning to the rest of his brawling brothers and sisters, Dana bellowed, "Fall in, you grunts!"

Within seconds, the fighting stopped and the kids were lined up, at attention, awaiting orders.

Having been rescued from Ace's tirade, Mal looked thoroughly impressed as well as grateful. He cleared his throat and proclaimed, "Well, uh, ya. Ya'll just remember to behave yourselves."

"Yes, sir," Dana answered, staring pointedly at his siblings until they, too, chimed, "Yes, sir!"

xxXxx

They heard the throaty growls from the hovercraft engines several minutes before they saw the two orange dust clouds shooting closer and closer down the straight in a worn dirt road some ways off. Dana was only half finished with his briefing, which was the usual speech about not causing trouble, along with a little quizzing about their new family. But he couldn't hold his brothers' and sisters' attention once they heard the engines coming. The excitement was just too great.

Even Dana found himself unable to continue, to resist turning and staring out the bay door as the pair of hovercrafts came skidding to a stop just feet from the ramp. The crafts were just... gorgeous. All sleek, polished curves; built for speed. Blocked simply on the buffed steel side panel of one was _Esther_; _Atalanta_ was on the side of the other, a flaming scrawl in both English and Chinese characters set between red racing tried hard not to salivate at the thought of getting to drive either vehicle.

"Get a look at those," Hunter remarked, her voice quiet and breathy and impressed as they all watched a middle-aged man jump swiftly from _Esther_, a buoyant, broad teenage boy in a cowboy hat leap from _Atalanta_. Falling into step side by side, the (presumably) father and son--they certainly looked enough alike, the younger one a darker, less weathered copy of the older--made straight for _Serenity_. Jayne was already halfway to meet them.

"_Shun-sheng duh gao-wahn_!" Jayne exclaimed, reaching out to shake the older man's hand even while he stared at the teenager, "Billy sure got big as hell." He gave the teen a quick one-armed hug.

"Ten years'll do that do a boy," the man replied. His voice was gruff, deeper than Jayne's and absent of affection. His features were similar but carved out in harsher, sharper planes. He was the same height and build but maybe slightly less deliberately muscular, with more of a tan, more deep wrinkles around his green eyes and thin, unsmiling mouth. He had gray hair at his temples and was clean-shaven and wore a crisp white dress shirt and faded jeans and practical work boots.

Jayne grinned, that wide, shit-eating one that punctuated his most off-color stories and jokes. "Startin' in early, Will?" he laughed, finally turning to fully face the older man, "Wouldn't want ya to run outta material too quick."

Still not even cracking a smirk, the man drawled, "Don't you worry none 'bout that. I got plenty. And if I'm short, I'm sure Ma 'n the rest'll pick up the slack." He waited another few moments, stoic and silent and staring. Then he leaned forward and seized Jayne into an abrupt hug, wrapping both thick arms all the way around the man and thumping him hard on the back with both fists. Jayne didn't hesitate in returning the heartfelt gesture.

But it was over almost as quickly as it began, the pair letting go and stepping back. Jayne was still smiling, the man who had to be his brother still not. Either way, Jayne clapped one hand onto the man's shoulder and one onto the teen's, steering them both up the ramp as he stated, "Well, come on. I'll getcha introduced 'fore the freeferall."

Without the young man really meaning to, Dana's spine went ramrod straight. He would've saluted if it hadn't been for Frankie holding his arm down. Sometimes, Dana really loved just how well his siblings knew him.

"Best be quick, Jay," the older man ordered, curt and authoritative. Those qualities in his voice were probably what had Dana so ready to snap to attention. "Ma's gonna tan us if we don't get ya'll home timely-like."

"I think Gramma ain't gonna 'member we exist for the next couple days," the teenager contributed, laughing openly and loudly in counterpoint to his stoic father. The brunette shoved his dusty cowboy hat back from his sun-browned forehead and crinkled hazel eyes. He winked at the assorted inhabitants of _Serenity_'s bay, adding, "I think she'll be far too busy fussin' over this lot."

Chuckling gruffly, Jayne agreed, "Pro'ly right." He slapped each on the back as he introduced them, stating, "Guys, this is my older brother, William, and his oldest son, William Jr."

"Billy," the teenager amended, smiling like a lunatic, that unstoppable, for-absolutely-no-reason smile Dana was so used to seeing on perpetual optimists like Merry and Kelly. It was an easy smile to return. "Nice to meet ya'll," their cousin beamed, "Finally, you know? Ain't heard talk a' much else for weeks! So who's who?"

"I'm Kelly," Kelly chirped, excited to the point that he was actually twitching, yanking on Sally's arm and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Howdy, little man," Billy laughed, "What'd you eat for breakfast? Jumpin' beans?"

Wrinkling his nose in confusion, the little blonde replied, "No. We had protein. It was orange."

"Kel's always like this," Hunter explained, slightly timid but still managing to be a cocky know-it-all because she was pretty much incapable of being any other way, "He's a supernova. I'm Hunter."

Billy beamed. "Well nice to meet you, too, pretty lady," he laughed, bending to grab Hunter's hand and press a kiss to the back of it.

She blushed, looking uncomfortable and uncertain. Like she wasn't quite sure whether or not to smile or punch the young man in the face. It wasn't long before the redhead politely retracted her hand.

Billy didn't seem at all insulted or even perturbed, simply turning his attention to Ace and giving her a big, flirty grin. "Tallest girl, blonde," the young man observed, "That make you Ace?"

"Sure does," Ace replied, not so much as blinking when Billy gallantly kissed her hand as well. If anything, Ace looked a bit pleased by the gesture. And blessedly less neurotic. "You must be the hovercar racer," she quipped.

"Sure am," Billy answered brightly, tilting his hat back away from his tan forehead, "You're lookin' at the fastest man on this here rock."

"Can't claim that 'til you claim a title," Uncle William cut in, voice flat and unaccusing, "Speed don't mean nothin' when you never manage to finish a race."

Billy cheerfully waved off the comment. "A minor detail," he chirped, moving to greet Merry and Frankie, "You two must be the twins. You the day-and-night kind or the finish-each-other's-sentences kind?"

Grinning, the twins replied, "Day-and-night." They shared sideways glances and couldn't help giggling at their joke.

Billy took it in stride, laughing, "Guess that answers that." He moved down the line, beaming up at Sally and offering his hand. "Salvatore?" the teen questioned brightly.

Sally grunted, giving Billy's hand a quick, curt pump.

Again, Billy didn't seem too upset by the less-than-warm greeting, going onto, "Jan?"

"Ya," the teen said, a nervous but friendly smile stretching his boyish features as he too shook their cousin's hand, "Hi. Nice ride."

"Thank y'kindly," Billy replied, broad chest swelling with obvious pride, "My _Atalanta_ is the fastest, prettiest baby to be hoverin' for three systems."

"You need to swap out her air filter," Hunter shouted, suddenly and inexplicably nothing but a pair of skinny freckled legs sticking out from beneath the idling craft. Sighing, Dana resolved to keep a better eye on his sister--especially around other people's heavy machinery--and stomped off to drag her away from _Atalanta_ by her ankles.

When they returned to the small crowd a few moments later--with Hunter grumbling and smudging grease off her slender nose and shaking dust out of her short hair--Billy had already been introduced to the remaining siblings and crew and was kneeling in front of Murphy and Melody. With a theatrical flourish, he made a large washer appear from behind Melody's ear. The girl giggled at the sleight.

Wide-eyed, Murphy screamed and tore away from the confused brunette in order to hide herself behind Dana's thick legs. She held on tight, almost tripping the young man before he managed to untangle and hoist her up into his arms. Murph pressed her face against his neck, squashing her hideous and pissed off kitten between them as she urgently hissed, "Mouse, he's one of the ones who takes stuff out of your _brain_!"

"Oh, Murph," Dana replied quietly, giving Billy an apologetic glance before carrying his sister away from the source of her fear, "It's ok. He didn't really take anything out of Mel's brain. It was just-"

He paused, not wanting to say _magic_ because no way was Murphy falling for that. She didn't possess nearly any of the childish illusions she should've and would've found the notion insulting. She was liable to set the gorram cat on him.

"It was just a trick," Dana explained instead, "Billy had the washer hidden in his hand all along. And nobody has washers inside their heads anyways."

Murphy shook her head, near tears as she argued, "Nuh uh. I saw him do it. I don't want to stay here anymore."

"Come on, little one," the burly teen soothed, "I promise it was just a trick. You don't have anything to be afraid of. Billy was just trying to impress you and Melody, you know?"

Murphy said nothing.

Dana knew he was making progress, despite the girl's continued shivering, and prodded, "Can you give him one more chance? Please?"

She thought about it for a long few moments, during which Dana listened to the low buzz of conversation from the people gathered around the open bay. River was subjecting her brother-in-law and nephew to long, clingy hugs, laughing when Billy swung her up off her feet and spun the waif-like woman in circles.

"'K," Murphy finally answered, quiet, "But can you stay with me? Just in case?"

Dana smiled. "Of course," he said, heading back towards the crowd, "Always."

When Billy saw them returning, he jogged a little ways out to meet the pair. He grinned sweetly at Murphy, stating, "Sorry if I scared ya', darlin'. It was just a bit a' magic."

Scowling, Murphy squeezed Serenity and Dana tighter and muttered, "There's no such thing." Shortly after, the girl challenged, "Mouse says you were playing a trick on me and that you always had the washer in your hand and that you didn't take it out of Melody's brain. Is that true?"

Billy seemed momentarily stunned but gathered himself quickly with another wide, charming grin. "Well I certainly didn't take nothin' outta nobody's brain," he laughed, producing the washer seemingly from thin air and letting it roll artfully back and forth across his knuckles. He flicked his hand over, sending the washer into his palm, but when he opened his fingers a moment later, the piece had vanished. Beaming, Billy added, "It's just a show I learned to make pretty girls smile."

Murphy remained unimpressed and generally skeptical of the entire production, scowling at Billy and clinging to her cat and her brother.

Careful of the volatile feline, Dana jostled Murphy a bit on his hip and teased, "Come on, little one. I wasn't even the target audience and I still thought it was a shiny trick. And he doesn't look like any brain doctor I've ever met."

Chuckling, Billy shoved at his hat again and declared, "Well, thanks fer the vote a' confidence, cuz."

Still, the Murphy said nothing. She hid her face again against Dana's neck.

But, despite the girl's mistrust, Dana found himself liking his cousin. The young man's boundless optimism and shameless confidence were easy traits to admire. Aside from, you know, the _amazing_ ride. And--at the risk of sounding too sappy--Dana thought that Billy had a kind and generally friendly air about him, in the way he gestured and walked and talked nonstop to anyone who would listen.

"Dana," the young man introduced, offering his free hand.

Billy took it and shook it, beaming, "Figured. Good to finally meet ya."

The rest of their party had gathered around _Esther _and _Atalanta_ and _Serenity_'s mule as well, calling who would sit where and who was going to have to sit on whose lap for the ride to Gramma Cobb's home. Despite promises that the journey would be relatively short--Uncle William said fifteen minutes from one end of the property to the other; Billy swore to Dana that he could make the trip in under ten--several arguments had already broken out over seating arrangements.

Sighing, Dana motioned to Billy that they should head over, and the brunette didn't need more explanation. He fell in step with the younger man and continued trying to impress Murphy with his array of magic tricks.

Dana couldn't stop smiling because, inexplicably, he thought things might actually be working out for his little--well, formerly little--family.

xxXxx

Uncle William's hovercraft zipped quickly down a red dirt lane bordered on both sides by thriving fruit trees of assorted varieties: apple, orange, peach, plum, cherry, mango, banana, pomegranate, pear, kiwi, date, lemon, almond, cashew, olive, walnut.

Sally's mouth watered at the sight. Back home, Before the Act, Sally had lived with his mamma in a small apartment on L'Aquila, in the capital city. It had just been the two of them and their lush rooftop garden.

Mamma had made sure to fill it with plants that would yield good food for Sally. "To help you grow big and strong, _mio bambino_," she used to laugh, cross-legged in the smoggy sunlight, black hair loose and hanging almost to the floor as she sliced fresh fruits and vegetables to share between them. Just the two of them.

Everything had been so simple and so perfect.

Sally shook his head, hard, and choked down a lump from his throat. Mamma was dead. Sally had watched her die, watched the flu epidemic take her and most of the planet while the Alliance soldiers in bio-containment masks moved house to house rounding up the orphans. The planet's children had been vaccinated in one sweep, surprised at school and sent home, most to find parents already dying if not dead. It had all been staged; L'Aquila was a known haven for fugitives and revolutionaries.

"What're those?" Kelly whispered, squirming beside his big brother and pointing at a row of thick mango trees.

Sally took a moment to comprehend the questions before realizing that Kelly had never seen trees before. He'd been reclaimed as a newborn.

Come to think of it, Murphy had never seen trees either, seized from a desert world before she was even old enough to know her own name, the one she'd had before the Alliance had intervened. And Hunter had been four; if she had seen real trees before then, they were probably only a distant memory.

Bastille had never had trees. Sally guessed that signs of natural life would've been too much to have asked for from their Alliance caretakers.

Choking down a renewed lump of sorrow and fury, the young man gently explained, "Trees, Kel. Hasn't Hunter ever shown you pictures on the cortex? They make oxygen and sometimes produce fruit. That one's mango. Those over there are cherry and apple. I think there are a few almond trees on that side."

"Oh," Kelly chirped, practically vibrating with excitement, "That's shiny! I didn't know trees would be so big!"

"I 'member when those were just saplings," Uncle William volunteered, bringing the craft to a halt near a large, cheerful blue-and-white farmhouse before turning in his seat. He regarded his nephews with that stony yet somehow kind gaze as he added, "Just like you. 'Course, nothin' stays small for long 'round here. We got good land."

Kelly beamed and then set off babbling a mile a minute to the older man, clambering out of the hovercraft without so much as a pause for breath.

Bemused, Uncle William followed along, listening intently as they walked towards the building that would now be home.

Despite himself, Sally turned and grinned at his father. His father grinned back.

xxXxx

First thing Hannah did when she saw Jayne (even though she'd promised herself and her family that she wouldn't) was scream at the top of her lungs. Second thing she did was sprint down the length of the drive and launch herself at her brother, trapping him in the biggest, longest, squishiest hug she could manage.

Third thing she did, quite some minutes later, was punch the man hard in the chest.

"Ow," Jayne complained, frowning at his baby sister, "Gorramit, Hannah Lynn. What was that for?"

Hannah glared playfully, moving in to squeeze her brother around his middle yet again. "For stayin' gone so long, _boo hway-hun duh puo-foo_!" she replied, getting a bit teary, "You said no more'n a year and here it's been, like, TEN! You ain't never even met my youngest!"

Jayne stared down at the pretty, petite woman, slightly horrified. "Aw, don't start cryin' on me," he insisted urgently, "I said I was sorry! And I'm here now, ain't I?" Hannah had always been able to melt him, and damned if his baby sister's effect had been diminished by time or age. Hell, it was almost like they were kids again, with the big-eyed runt following him around everywhere demanding attention. Despite being in her thirties, she still had the same round, pudgy baby face. Her green eyes shined happily despite the tears.

"Don't think just 'cuz I'm excited 'bout that I'm gonna forgive you so easy!" Hannah replied, mock pouting before turning a brilliant grin to the petite woman at Jayne's side. "River!" she squealed, throwing both arms around the immensely pleased brunette, "I'm so glad to finally get to meet you! Thanks so much for makin' Jaynie send all them letters and pictures! I almost feel like I know you already!"

Before River had a chance to respond, Hannah's attention ricocheted. That hadn't changed neither. Hannah turned to the small child hiding behind her sister-in-law's skirt. "And you must be Melody," Hannah cooed sweetly, kneeling before the girl, "You are just heaps cuter in person!"

Melody smiled shyly, peaking out at her aunt through a meticulously tamed curtain of dark hair.

Heartened, the woman held her arms out wide and offered, "I know we just met n'all, but you think you could give your Auntie Hannah a hug? I got a whole mess a' hugs all stored up for ya."

Uncertain, the little five-year-old looked to her parents first. Jayne grinned broadly, nodding his daughter forward, and Melody cautiously stepped into Hannah's embrace.

The first hug of many between aunt and niece did not disappoint; it was long and punctuated with an elated stream of smothering kisses and squirming giggles. As was her habit, Hannah chose not to really end the hug, instead scooping her pixie of a niece off the ground and propping the child on one plump hip. She laced her free arm with River's, pointedly ignoring Jayne as she declared, "I just gotta meet everybody and so do you! It's amazin' having so much family dropped outta the sky all at once! Like ya'll just sailed on down from heaven!"

By that time, the rest of the family was closing in.

Tess came up first; she'd always had a long stride and had never been one to be anywhere but leading. Her hair was the same bright auburn, though shot through with an occasional grey and a lot longer than Jayne remembered. Hell, it seemed like she hadn't cut that mane of hers since he left. A thick braid hung past the woman's trim waist. And Tess had wrinkles, around her dark mouth and at the corners of her mossy green eyes. That was kinda weird. But Tess also had a pistol strapped to each sturdy hip. And that was entirely familiar.

Unlike his baby sister, Jayne's big sister hit him first then hugged him, thumping him hard on the back. "_Hun-dan_," she chuckled, holding Jayne at arm's length and giving him a good look up and down. She was only a few inches shorter than Jayne, broad at the shoulders and hips and slim at the waist, with an undeniably confident stance. Giving a slightly sadistic grin, Tess declared, "Well, ya certainly don't look freakishly fertile. They don't sell condoms on other worlds, or just not in extra-extra-small?"

Jayne felt his face get red. Ya, just like old times.

Behind him, he heard Hunter snicker and Jan guffaw. The man reached back and pulled his two children forward, Jan on the right and Hunter on the left. He figured he could distract Tess by offering up a few of his brood for scrutiny. "Guys," Jayne said, "Meet by big sister, Tess. She thinks she's funny."

"I am funny," Tess answered, smirking evilly and shaking hands with the two kids before her, "This big oaf just can't remember 'cuz he ain't been home in _ten gorram years_. But I guess bringin' such a mess 'a good-lookin' nieces and nephews is gonna earn him at least a little forgiveness. How ya'll doin'? Let's see, you're... Hunter and Jan?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hunter confirmed, offering a bright but nervous smile, "Nice to meet you."

Chuckling again, Tess replied, "Likewise, darlin'." She moved forward and put one arm around Hunter, moving the girl away from Jayne and doing the same to Jan. "Come on," Tess went on, moving towards the other kids, "Introduce me around, seein' as how my little brother ain't got no gorram manners."

Jayne watched them walk by and straight into the crowd of kids and crew. He barely had a moment to watch Tess shaking hands with Merry and Frankie, Hannah cooing over Murphy's hair before his mama was on him.

She'd gotten so much older, seeming more wrinkled and small. It was almost worrisome. But the tiny woman threw her arms around him and nearly broke his back with the force of her hug. So Jayne guessed there wasn't really anything to be worried about after all; Ma was tough and healthy as she'd always been.

"You are in big trouble, Jayne Michael Cobb!" Ma scolded, angrily sniffing back tears as she buried her face in his chest, "You ever even _think_ about goin' so long without comin' home again, I will track you down myself and drag you back here by the hair! Understand, boy?"

Grinning sheepishly, Jayne answered, "Yes, Ma."

She socked him hard in the gut, complaining, "Don't you _yes-Ma_ me! I am dang serious! Now _where are my grandbabies_?!"

Hoping again to distract attention--and any subsequent blows--from himself by sacrificing a few of his children, Jayne turned and grabbed the first two he could. They happened to be Sally and Dana, who had Murphy clinging to his neck. Oh, Ma would _love_ that.

Quite expectedly, she squealed happily over all three, petting Murphy's neat pink-blonde pigtail braids and Dana's red cheeks and Sally's tattooed chest.

Jayne sighed and noticed Nigel, Tess' husband, gallantly escorting Alma, William's wife, over to the fray.

Nigel was a thin man; he'd had the same twig of a body all his life and had seemed to just stretch upwards rather than actually grow. Jayne had never understood what his sister saw in the neurotic little preacher, with his meticulously straight black hair and thin, serious face and nerdy red bowtie. Not that Jayne had anything against the man; Nigel was nice enough, pleasant and friendly and well-liked professionally. He was just... odd. And fussy... kinda like Simon...

Alma, however, had always been Jayne's favorite in-law. She looked rather average, an open brown face and short, choppy black hair that fell in her dark eyes. A crooked smile. She was a teacher, ran the only school on the planet. Jayne would've loved to have had a teacher like Miss Alma when he was a kid. He might've actually gone to class more if there'd been someone sweet like her there to make the lessons fun and enjoyable.

When she got to him, Jayne bent himself in half to kiss the small woman on both cheeks. He shook hands with Nigel and reminded himself not to be offended when the beanpole wiped his palm off on his neatly pressed trousers right afterwards.

"Hey, ya'll," Jayne greeted the pair, smiling at the mess of nieces and nephews milling around behind them, "How's it goin'?"

Smirking crookedly, eyes bright, Alma straightened her prim yellow skirt and declared, "It's goin' just fine, Jaynie. Welcome home."

"Thank you, Miss Alma," Jayne replied, laughing gruffly, looking around for another one of his kids to offer up. He lucked out and managed to snag Merry by the collar as the teen was listening intently to Kelly babbling on to William and Ma about everything under the sun. As Jayne had come to expect, Frankie wasn't too far behind her twin.

"Meet my twins," Jayne said, sort of ridiculously proud, "Merry and Frankie. Guys, meet your Auntie Alma and Uncle Nigel."

Frankie smiled softly and Merry beamed, chirping, "Hi!" They shook hands all around while the bright boy asked Alma, "So you're the teacher, huh? What year do you teach?"

Politely, Alma answered, "I teach sixth form, the fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds. You and Frankie'll be in my class I believe."

"Shiny," Merry said, bouncing happily on the balls of his feet, "Jan too then. He's fifteen. When do we start?"

Getting a bit excited herself, Alma replied, "Monday, if you'd like. We're halfway through reading _Lord of the Flies_. Have you read it before?"

"I have," Frankie spoke up quickly, "Miss Inara let me borrow it."

"Wonderful!" Alma quipped. She turned and motioned for one of the nephews, Ethan If Jayne wasn't mistaken. The boy sure had turned into a monster of a teenager, dark and imposing. He stood at least a head taller than both twins, awkward and uncomfortable as he looked to his mother for guidance.

She waved her hands around in a complicated flurry of signs. Ethan nodded along, not making eye contact with anyone else.

Merry and Frankie both grinned and immediately began making complicated hand gestures of their own.

Ethan's broad, scruffy face lit up like Christmas and he began signing back.

Jayne was rather impressed with his children; he barely knew any sign language, let alone enough with which to communicate very well with his deaf nephew.

Alma went from confused to shocked to pleased as pie in about two seconds flat. She waved over more of the kids.

Jayne only had a moment to try to guess who was who before Alma started happily listing, "Guys, this is your Uncle Jayne and your cousins Merry and Frankie. These're Tess and Nigel's girls, Retta, Winnie, and Colt. This is Jem, my youngest, and his twin sister Ruby. And this is Hannah's boy Zion and his baby sister Lijah, and my middle boy Tristan."

She went a little too fast for Jayne to adequately match the eager faces to the names. But Merry and Frankie didn't seem to have any similar problems. The signing became even more animated as more kids joined in both the silent and not silent parts of the conversation.

Scratching his forehead, Jayne gave Nigel a sheepish smile.

Seeming to know what the man was thinking, Nigel chuckled and folded his long arms behind his back. "Don't worry," he said, "You'll get 'em all straight in no time."

"That's the hope," Jayne sighed, "Am I in trouble for not knowin' how to talk to Ethan?"

Again, Nigel chuckled and commented, "We'll have to break out the chalkboard, but I don't think it's an unforgivable offense."

Jayne laughed, "I'll take your word for it, preacher-man... where's Matty at?"

"Inside," Nigel answered flatly, "Sadie skinned up her knee just before we decided to come meet you. He's fixing her up. Pro'lly shouldn't be too much longer."

Jayne nodded in agreement.

xxXxx

2513 must've been a damn busy time for the Cobbs, Hunter mused. Aside from herself, there were three other cousins who'd been born that year, three other fourteen-year-olds who were kind of obviously psyched (as was Hunter) to be adding one more to their ranks.

"We gotta have a sleepover!" Winnie, the pretty, bubbly blonde squealed, jumping all over Hunter in her excitement, "We can get to know each other, and it'll be a whole ton a' fun!"

"Uh... ok," Hunter hesitantly agreed. The redhead was sort of distressed by her but forced a smile nonetheless as Winnie continued on and on about mud facials and introducing Hunter to the boys in their class so they two girls could talk about them later.

"Aw, give it a rest, Winnie," said one of the two age-equivalent boy cousins... um, Tristan? the tall, skinny black-haired one with the devious green eyes and deep bronze skin. He looped one dark, lanky arm around Hunter's shoulders, brightly adding, "She don't wanna do that girlie _go-se_! She wants to come raise a lil' hell with me 'n Zi!"

Zion grinned and winked, putting his arm around Hunter from the other side as he declared, "Ya. We hear you got some considerable intellect you don't mind usin' for nefarious purposes, and we sure could make some good use of it." He was close in height to Hunter, maybe even slightly shorter, definitely stockier, with a round pale face and pale blonde hair and pale blue eyes, a disturbingly trustworthy smile.

Beaming, Hunter happily replied, "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Winnie pouted, and Hunter felt sort of bad. The girl was way weird but that didn't mean she deserved to get her feelings hurt, so Hunter gave her cousin an apologetic smile and, judging by the look that bloomed on Winnie's pretty freckled face, was forgiven instantly.

"You _really_ don't want to encourage her," Jan cut in, appearing beside Winnie after seeming to have finally been released from the energetic hugs of Gramma and Auntie Hannah, "She's an unholy ginger menace."

"That ain't a very nice thing to say, Jan," Winnie teased, hands on hips.

Jan just shrugged, joking, "Well, she isn't a very nice person."

"It's true," Hunter agreed, completely straight-faced, "I'm not."

Mal chose that moment to intrude, bouncing his fussy daughter as he quipped, "Not what?"

"Nice," Jan explained.

Nodding, the captain added, "Oh. Ya. Absolutely not. The girl scares me sometimes."

Tristan chuckled brightly, commenting, "Sounds like just what this world's been needin." He bent near the captain, cooing at the man's daughter as he asked, "This one yours, sir?"

"She sure is," Mal beamed, "Adhara Reynolds. And I'm Mal... uh, what's your name, son?"

Giving a devious smirk, the teen chirped, "Tristan Cobb, at your service."

Zion leaned forward and shook the captain's hand, introducing himself as well. "Zion Wu," the young man stated, smiling his far-too-trustworthy smile, "Nice to meet you, sir."

"I'm Winnie," Winnie piped up, sweet and bubbly and blonde, reaching out to shake hands as well, "Winnie Sheridan. We've heard just _loads_ about ya'll from Uncle Jaynie's letters! It's swell you finally comin fer a visit!"

The captain seemed to have little control over the reciprocal smile that spread across his face as he replied, "We're all lookin forward to it as well. It's a right fine world you got here."

Tristan cut in with a laugh, joking, "Peaceful and sleepy, with all the boredom that goes along. But we try to remedy that whenever possible."

Smirking at the boy and then at Hunter, Mal declared, "You sure are gonna fit in good around here."

From somewhere close by, Hunter hear a loud _thwap_. A pause. Then Sally chanting, "Oh shit.... ohshitohshitohshit..."

xxXxx

It was sort of... weird. Having a kindly grandmother fawning over what a strong, handsome boy he was. Having a tiny, bubbly aunt doting and jumping all over him, practically vibrating with excitement. Having a handful of little cousins buzzing around his legs, staring up at him in varied states of interest and awe.

Dana couldn't say he was entirely comfortable with all the attention, especially after Murphy asked to be put down, stuck by her big brother's side like she'd been welded there but nevertheless took part in an animated conversation with the littler cousins. (It mostly consisted of the girl showing off Serenity, reluctantly letting ten-year-old, flaxen-haired Elijah Wu hold the unhappy bald kitten).

Anyways.

Not having Murphy to hang onto any longer was unsettling, made the young man feel a bit exposed. Even though his new family seemed almost unbelievably nice and welcoming, Dana still wished a member of his old one would wander over and distract some attention. Hunter, or maybe Kelly? Wash? They all seemed much better equipped to handle the spotlight but were diversely disposed in various groups of genial relatives.

"Jaynie's been sayin' that you wanna be a pilot," Gramma stated happily, a proud smile beaming up at Dana from the woman's wrinkled face, "That's a great thing to learn! Not many can do it very well. Cass Damato's always lookin' for people to do crop hops back'n forth between the worlds in our system. That sound like somethin' you'd like?"

Momentarily stunned, Dana had to blink and shake himself hard before answering, "Uh, ya. I mean, yes, ma'am! That would be amazing!"

Giggling, Auntie Hannah swatted playfully at her nephew's arm and declared, "Well alright then! I'll take ya down to meet Cass as soon as you're ready!"

Dana found himself suddenly unable to stop smiling like a lunatic. This pilot thing was starting to seem like freaking destiny. And such a kind, supportive family was certainly nothing to sneeze at. Especially after knowing the other end of the spectrum.

River chose that moment to wander over, sweetly leading a black-haired, dark-skinned little boy with wide green eyes by the hand. Clad in a smart white dress shirt and dark jeans, the boy stared up at Dana, wordless but full of genuine, unflinching wonder.

"Heya, River," Auntie Hannah spoke up brightly, "I see you met Jem. He been talkin' yer ear off?"

River and Jem both blinked and stared owlishly. River smiled and claimed, "We have discussed much."

Dana got the sudden and distinct (not to mention completely insane and irrational) impression that, while his stepmother was indeed telling the truth, no words had passed between the strange woman and the intensely quiet boy. A powerful shiver ran straight down the length of Dana's spine. He certainly had his suspicions about Miss River, but... wow. He'd never felt it so strong before that something was _off_ about his caring stepmother. And it was stupid, really. That just... it wasn't _possible_...

Dana decided not to pursue the train of thought any further.

"Jem, honey," Gramma spoke up, running her gnarled fingers through the boy's mop of unruly black hair, "Did you meet your cousin Dana?"

The boy shook his head, gazing up at Dana in wonder. He smiled softly, murmuring, "Hi."

With a grin, Dana gave a friendly, "hey," in reply. Jem was a cute little kid, noticeably smaller than his rather hyperactive twin sister, Ruby--who was crowding Murphy and appeared to be torturing Serenity in the process of trying to get a turn holding the hairless creature. But, then again, Jem also looked a lot like Sally did back when Sally was actually small: he was dark and skinny but broad at the shoulders; his cheekbones were just a hair shy of being too big for his angular face. If that was any indication, Jem would probably grow up to be a giant. There certainly didn't seem to be any shortage of larger-than-average men in the Cobb family. But, in the meantime, Jem was tiny for a seven-year-old, kind of like a mini Sally. It was pretty damn adorable.

Before he could spending anymore time ruminating on the probable course of his little cousin's growth, Dana found his attention abruptly drawn by Ace, who was running (even though she damn well knew better in those ridiculous heeled sandals) towards him and dragging Dr. Tam by the arm.

"Mouse!" the girl shouted, voice full of urgency as her long blonde hair escaped the flimsy plastic barrette at the nape of her neck, "Get him and hold him down! He's going to die!"

xxXxx

Even though she never got motion-sick (except maybe when Mouse was piloting a spaceship nose-first into the ground), Ace spent the entirety of the hovercraft ride to the Cobb homestead trying like hell to fight down the urge to spew. She really had no energy to appreciate her genial cousin chatting nonstop as he drove or the surreally picturesque scenery whizzing past on all sides. The lush landscape only added to her sense of terror: it was so damn new, so unusual, and Ace felt entirely out of place.

Even after finally coming to a stop, getting out of the way-too-fast hovercraft, Ace still felt sick. She did _not_ want to go through with this "meet the family" nonsense. She had all the family she had ever hoped for and more; why push her luck? The odds were against this working out, and Ace always felt sick when she knew that the odds were stacked against her, that an inevitable failure had the potential to substantially alter the way she lived her life. Even though she kept also telling herself that she didn't care, that it wouldn't matter either way.

But then the tall teen found herself caught in a whirlwind of unexpected hugs and kisses and rapid, never-ending lists of names. She'd been sick with nerves--and, yeah, she could admit now that it had definitely been nerves making her want to hurl--but that was just because the girl hadn't thought she and her siblings would be getting such an affectionate welcome. She'd been worried about not fitting in, not being liked, getting turned away in shame because her mama'd been a whore.

And Ace had prepared herself for all of these outcomes, even started planning where she and her siblings would go once they were disowned by the Cobbs and abandoned by the _Serenity_ crew--apparently Qilin was nice this time of year and kept the purple bellies completely off world.

But then a little wrinkled, white-haired old woman hugged her almost too tight to be healthy and a barrage of aunts, uncles, and cousins raced in to be the next to do the same to Ace and the rest.

And Ace practically melted with relief (mentally drafting apologies for all the assorted siblings and crew she'd abused in the depths of her insecurity).

All she had to worry about presently was keeping her stomach right-side-out and the names and faces straight; Ace reconsidered passing on Mouse's dossier and resolved to get the thing at the first opportunity from whoever had it.

Well, maybe she wouldn't need to. She remembered Gramma Cobb just fine. And the Sheridan sisters were relatively easy to tell apart. Retta and Winnie were the first after Gramma to rush forward, dragging their twitchy little sister Colt along behind them.

Retta was tall, tall as or maybe taller than Ace. And she was loud, boisterous and dynamic, with lively green eyes and shaggy auburn hair shorn messily around her strong chin. She talked about how excited she was to meet Ace, that they'd have to go out later so that Retta could show and introduce her around, that everybody was just going to love her and she hoped Ace would love it here, too. She'd heard that her new cousins all had weapons training and really wanted to take them all shooting, see what they could do. Retta said she was a pretty gorram keen markswoman.

"And too competitive for my own good!" the girl laughed heartily, slapping Ace on the back, oozing confidence that bordered on cockiness, "Least that's what Mama says. But she says that about pretty much anybody under twenty-five on this rock. We're the most competitive world in the 'verse, I bet!"

Ace couldn't help chuckling, relaxing under the force of such a claim.

Winnie didn't look much like Retta, short and petite and sweet-faced, a bubbly blonde with chipped pink polish on her finger- and toenails. She was just as happy and sociable as her sister though, gushing about how pretty Ace's dress looked before bouncing away to one of the other small clusters of Cobbs and _Serenity _crew. Winnie seemed like she didn't have a very lengthy attention span.

But it was Colt who looked least like either of the elder Sheridan girls. The twelve-year-old had dark hair, a deep reddish black that shined in the sun. And she had freckles, not quite as many as Hunter but still plenty, all across her nose and cheekbones and skinny shoulders and arms and legs. She didn't say too much, uttering a hesitant "hey" before trying to shrink behind Retta, nervously fidgeting with a stray thread at the waist of her sister's pretty though slightly grass-stained green dress.

They wouldn't be hard to remember at all, Ace decided. Their daddy was a preacher; their mama was the planet's sheriff and Jayne's older sister.

Aunt Tess took her own turn squeezing the life out of Ace as soon as her daughters were through. Aunt Tess was definitely taller than Ace, by several inches at least, proud and statuesque, with a solidly muscled frame and a thick auburn braid--exactly same shade as Retta's hair but with some scattered strands of gray--ending just past her slim waist. She was a bit imposing but not when she smiled.

"Welcome to Galena," the woman declared, lines appearing at the corners of her mossy green eyes and dark mouth, "I sure do hope you like it hear 'cuz we're real glad to have ya."

Returning the grin, Ace hesitantly replied, "Thanks. I, uh. Yeah, it's a really nice world."

Aunt Tess chuckled, "It'll grow on ya for sure. You be sure 'n let me know if you have any trouble settlin' in or if anybody gives ya hard time. I don't expect problems, but just in case."

"Ok," Ace said. The gesturing was disturbingly comforting. And she was feeling kind of overwhelmed.

"Relax, darlin'," a new voice declared, deep and male and attached to a stocky brunette man with a pretty black-haired, blue-eyed, scabby-kneed toddler balanced on his hip. The girl peered out at Ace with only mild interest, content to cuddle the broad planes of the man's chest and suck her grubby little thumb.

The man himself looked a lot like Jayne, except that he was a bit shorter, a bit heavier; he had a rounder face and a broad smile that seemed permanent. He offered his hand, greeting, "Hi, I'm Matty, your uncle. Which one of my beautiful new nieces might you be?"

"Ace," Ace said. "Um. Hi." Belatedly, she took Uncle Matty's hand and shook it firmly, once up and down. She forced herself to smile. Not to puke.

In keeping with the trend of warm, amiable relatives, Uncle Matty returned a great big belly laugh, one animated enough to jostle the toddler he held. The girl squirmed, indignant at having been disturbed.

"Sadie, baby," Uncle Matty instructed, giving the child a playful jiggle, "Say hey to your cousin Ace."

The girl frowned briefly at Ace then turned away into her father's shoulder.

Uncle Matty laughed again, patting the girl's back and tenderly smoothing her pale pink dress down the length of her thin torso.

For some reason, Ace's chest felt suddenly tight, kind of like an impending panic attack or possibly some bad cheese. The young woman still wasn't sure whether or not she'd made the wrong decision in choosing to venture outside _Serenity_'s familiar walls. As good as everything was going, Ace still found herself on edge, waiting for the inevitable, for everything (or at least _something_) to blow up in her face.

That was about the time that Ace noticed Sally standing only a little ways away, talking with the triplets, Kaylee, Kelly, Jayne, Aunt Alma, Uncle William, and Uncle Nigel. Ace watched her behemoth of an older brother laugh, animated and carefree and radiating a truly uncharacteristic good mood.

Then she watched him swat absentmindedly at the back of his left hand with his right. She watched him flinch, look down, go wide eyed, breath in rapid, terrified pants...

xxXxx

Sally was just... he was so _happy_! He wasn't at all used to being so happy. Of course, since being reclaimed, he hadn't experience too many occasions that actually warranted overly positive emotions. But now... the planet was _beautiful_, his new family members were _nice_, and they were all going to be _happy_ and _free_ and _safe_ and _loved_.

The black-haired teen felt slightly drunk with his newfound optimism, loping over to yet another cluster of runaways, crew, and Cobbs doing the get-to-know-ya thing and eagerly joined in. He did so by sneaking up behind Kelly, who was still chattering a mile a minute with no signs of stopping for a breath, and scooped the skinny blonde up off the ground. Sally tossed his little brother high into the air, laughing at the runt's startled squeal before setting the boy back down again.

Kelly glared playfully, shoving ineffectually at Sal and complaining, "You interrupted me! Frankie says interrupting is rude!"

With a cocky grin, Sally replied, "Only when you're interrupting a speech that _hasn't _been going on for the last fifteen minutes straight. Then it's just a mercy to the audience."

His comment got some chuckles, even from Kelly himself. Kid never did master the fine art of holding a grudge.

"None of us minds a good long speech," Uncle William spoke up, light but still unsmiling. He ribbed the preacher and drolly teased, "Got plenty experience with sermonizers."

Flustered, Uncle Nigel had to take a long moment to straighten his shirt and hair--even though neither needed it. He matter-of-factly argued, "No one forces you to attend my services, William. I admit to having a vested interest in the state of your soul, but there is such a thing as free will."

"Tell that to my wife," William complained, artfully and effortlessly ducking Aunt Alma's answering swat.

"Heathen," the dark little woman grumbled, offering Sally a sweet smile. "Jaynie was sayin' that you're a very talented artist."

Sally laughed self-consciously, blushing as he confirmed, "I guess I'm alright. Still pretty out of practice, but Miss River gave me some pencils and a drawing pad, and I've been doodling every once in a while."

"He's just bein' modest," Miss Kaylee declared, bright and sunny, "His stuff looks like it should be in a museum, it's so good. He drew me such a nice picture a' my boys the other day, though how he got 'em to sit still that long's a mystery."

The demonic trio in question gave a set of perfectly timed evil grins.

"You'll have to show me your work some time," Aunt Alma chuckled, dark mouth curling into a kind smile, "And my school has an art program. You're welcome to join."

Laughing, Sally agreed, "Sure. Sounds fun."

Something itched on the back of his left hand. He swatted at it with his right.

The sting was unexpected.

Sal glanced down and discovered a half-dead honey bee with its needle-tipped backside embedded in the teen's deep olive skin. "Oh shit..." he breathed, already feeling the burn from the venom, the answering itch in his neck as his throat grew tight, "Ohshitohshitohshit..."

His wide eyes remained locked on the wriggling insect.

Sal barely heard him father's concerned voice telling him to calm down, to relax.

Someone reached into the teen's suddenly tunneled vision, pinched the bee and pulled it and its stinger out of Sally's hand.

Sally felt only marginally better but knew that the change was all in his head. He was definitely getting worse.

Breathing became a challenge.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before Ace was suddenly there, grabbing Sally's face and forcing him to look at her. "What is it?" she demanded, "What's wrong?"

"I'm-" Sal gasped, more and more weak, more ill, "I'm allergic."

xxXxx

"DO NOT let him move!" Ace commanded, shoving her dazed, gasping, bee-stung brother onto his butt before racing off towards the doctor.

Jayne kneeled beside his son, put a hand on the young man's broad shoulder and murmured, "You're gonna be ok, kid. Don't worry about it. The doc'll fix you up in a jiff."

Mentioning the doctor, Jayne only belatedly realized, was not a good strategy. It was, in fact, the opposite of a good strategy.

Even though the boy could only wheeze pitifully at that point, even though his hand had already swelled to twice its size, Sally still managed to commence with an epic freakout, flailing and attempting to run from the healing injection he must've guessed was coming.

Jayne tried to tackle his son but somehow missed.

Sally struggled to his feet and set off at a clumsy run.

Dana and Ace came sprinting after Sal as he stumbled away on a break for a nearby stretch of short grass.

Sally didn't get very far into the grass before he collapsed, choking on his own throat but still making a rather valiant effort to crawl away from his advancing siblings.

"Mouse!" Ace was still screaming, "Get him and hold him down! He's going to die!"

"Salvatore!" Dana barked, all authority, all C.O., "Just _STOP_!"

Unsure whether or not it would be appropriate to laugh at Sally's swollen and obscene answering gesture, Jayne settled for hovering nearby. He was ready to help hold Sally down if need be, but for the moment, the man didn't think his presence would be very welcomed or appreciated.

All of his kids who were big enough (or who thought they were big enough) to help arrived in rapid succession and circled their brother warily, waiting for Dana's signal even as Sally continued to choke and lash out.

Jayne saw Ace's hand tighten around the epi-pen, saw the girl nod almost imperceptibly.

And, scary fast, Dana has Sal pinned face-down in the grass, had the teen's arms contorted into an iron-tight hold. Sal couldn't do much more than twitch and snarl and kick feebly. Merry, Frankie, and Jan took care of the kicking seconds later, all three piling onto the boy's tree-trunk legs while Hunter helped Ace wrestle and stabilize a bare stretch of skin on Sally's hip.

Despite not being able to breathe, Sally howled like a feral wolf with the needle sunk in, throwing Jan off even while the other three struggled to keep their holds.

Jayne felt a small hand grab hold of his each of his large paws. The man looked down, saw that it was Kelly and Murphy, scared and too small to do anything but watch intently, worriedly while Sally's fight gradually died, while his breathing gradually slowed.

Jayne squeezed the small hands back when they tightened in fear, listened carefully when he finally noticed Dana's soft words of comfort into his brother's ear.

"It's ok, Sal. It's ok. It's over. Just breathe, Sal. Easy. You're fine. You're fine. Relax and I'll let you up..."

The family hung back, anxious, quiet.

After what seemed like forever, Sally sagged, the terrified tension leaving his powerhouse of a body.

True to his word, Dana released his bruising hold on the teen.

Kelly and Murphy were gone in a flash, hurling themselves at Sally even while he sat up in a daze, while Ace checked his pulse and pupils, while Dana apologized for the marks the boy would have on his wrists, while the rest assaulted him with urgent questions that got no answers.

And Jayne... Jayne found himself smiling as he watched. Because his children were beautiful and brilliant, loyal and loving. And he would be able to give them the home they deserved.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

bi-zui - shut up

shun-sheng duh gao-wahn - Holy testicle Tuesday

boo hway-hun duh puo-foo - remorseless harridan

hun-dan - son of a bitch

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

nee - French word (née) used to list women's maiden names; literally means "born."

OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

lychee - a tropical tree native to southern China that bears small, sweet fruit.

ASL - American Sign Language; the sign language most common in English speaking countries.

Esther - a biblical heroine who saved the Jews in Persia.

Atalanta - a female athlete from Greek mythology, she refused to marry any man who could not beat her in a foot race.

epi-pen - spring-loaded, pen-shaped autoinjector used to deliver a dose of epinephrine in order to treat anaphylactic shock.

So sorry this took so long. My life is hectic, and (as you might be able to tell from the word count) this chapter just refused to end. I had intended it to finish it about three weeks ago, but (seriously no lie) a bee stung my hand. The ole' typifier was kind of swollen and sore, so I slacked off on writing and did school work instead. Heh. And then after that, my computer turned into a paperweight overnight, so I had some issues getting the files off and getting someone to loan me another machine to use while my trusted companion was being shipped off and miraculously healed. God bless HP tech support. Those guys are ten kinds of awesome.

Anyways, reviews will let me know that you don't hate me too much for making you wait so long. And that would make me feel better about being such an unlucky slacker. I'm sorry for getting so far behind on answering them. Don't know if I'll be able to in the forseeable future, but I'm still reading them and nonetheless appreciate all comments :)


	13. Part 13: Lessons in Etiquette

Part 13 - Lessons in Etiquette

"You _knew_ you were allergic to bee stings and never told me?!" Ace accused, obviously irate as her fingernails dug hard into the pulse-point in Sally's wrist.

Stretched out across Gramma Cobb's squashy floral sofa, Sally just shrugged, squirmed as he tried to maneuver Murphy's little body into a more comfortable position on his chest.

Ace fumed, adjusting the instant ice pack pressed against Sal's swollen hand. "_Hou-zi de pi-gu_," the blonde snarled, pretty face all twisted with fury and worry, "Anaphylaxis is _not_ something to screw around with! You could have _died_!"

"Hey, I should be mad at you!" Sally fired back, still feeling a bit sore and dizzy, not to mention traumatized, "No one asked you to start shoving things into me! You're practically a rapist!"

Ace threw her hands up in frustration, stalking away as she bellowed, "I _cannot_ deal with him when he's like this! _Mouse_!"

"Ya," Mouse murmured, taking up the girl's seat with a stern expression on his face. He stared hard at Sally until Sally started to feel distinctly uncomfortable and quite thoroughly chastised. Gorramit, he hated when Mouse did that. It wasn't like Sally had freaked out on purpose! It was embarrassing, and he'd certainly stop himself if he could!

"Fine," the black-haired teen finally muttered, "Sorry, ok?"

Mouse's expression remained firm, but the older boy nodded. "Hunter's making you an auto-injector bracelet," Mouse stated bluntly.

"I'm not _wearing_ a needle!" Sally cried out, feeling himself flinch and hyperventilate involuntarily at the very thought, "Are you _kuang-zhe de_?!"

"What else do you suggest?" Mouse countered, still infuriatingly calm, "We obviously can't trust you to give yourself an injection if you need one. You have a serious allergy, Sal. Uncle William says that most farms on this world keep bees. And apparently bees find you tasty."

"So my inherent magnetism crosses species lines!" Sal fired back, kind of desperate and close to panic, "That's not my fault! I shouldn't be punished!"

Sighing heavily, Mouse soothed, "It's not a punishment. It's a reality check. Now get some rest. I'll wake you when dinner is ready." Leaving no more room for argument, Mouse stood and left.

Sally tried not to let himself start shaking, tried to calm down by petting Murphy's warm, thin back as he fell asleep.

xxXxx

"_Is your brother ok?_" Ethan signed, worry written all over his expressive dark face.

"_He's a stubborn jerk_," Ace signed in reply, stomping across the wide porch, "_But he'll live_."

Ethan smiled warmly, turning back to Frankie.

"_Sally hates needles_," Frankie told him, "_And Ace wants to be a doctor. They never see eye-to-eye in these kinds of situations_."

"_I could tell_," Ethan answered, cutting himself off abruptly when his baby sister, Ruby, tried to sprint past him into the house. He caught the dark-haired girl easily, hauled her wriggling body up onto his knee. "_Where're the little kids?_" he asked her.

Ethan watched the girl's lips move excitedly and her tiny hands echo for his benefit, "_Kelly is showing us how to kick people! And he said he could break a board in half with his head! He wants Dana to come watch, so I said I'd get him!_"

Ethan saw his pretty cousin's face twitching into a fond but exasperated smile. "_I'd better go stop him_," Frankie signed and said, standing gracefully, "_Kel hasn't quite mastered that trick yet and still knocks himself out about half the time_."

Ruby squirmed, and Ethan could feel the high-pitched vibrations of her answering whine. He laughed, picked up his sister and followed Frankie out into the wide, sunny yard.

xxXxx

"What's that?" Merry questioned, eagerly following Gramma Cobb around the kitchen as she pulled heavenly-smelling dishes out of the oven and ice box and pantry.

The kindly white-haired woman chuckled, announcing, "Rabbit stew. It's one a' Jayne's favorites. Uncle Avi brought it by when he heard ya'll were comin."

Merry paused halfway between the stove and the island counter. "We have an Uncle Avi?" he mused aloud, "I don't remember an Uncle Avi on the dossier..." At Gramma's look of confusion, the teen amended, "I mean, uh, no one mentioned an Uncle Avi."

Laughing, the small woman continued to bustle around the warm, cozy kitchen. "He was one a' your grandfather's best friends. Ari Cobb, Avi Little, and Nik Moon. They were just inseparable." She sighed a little, sadly.

"I'm sorry," Merry backtracked awkwardly, resting a hesitant hand on the old woman's bird-thin shoulder, "I didn't mean-"

Gramma cut him off with a bright wave and tender pat on the cheek, going back to her nonstop movement as she declared, "You didn't do nothing wrong, sweetheart. I just miss him still, is all. And I know he woulda loved to meet you. He had such a soft spot for his grandkids."

"Will's takin his sweet time on that barbeque!" Aunt Tess declared as she led a charge of women back into the kitchen. Smirking and winking at her nephew, the tall sheriff added, "Told ya to let me do it, Ma."

Directing Hannah and Zoe and River to set down their burdens of plates and serving dishes, Gramma scolded, "Oh, you hush up! Let him if he wants! Not like anybody's got anywhere to be!"

"Actually," Auntie Hannah sighed, "I told Deny I'd be back around ten. She's watchin Nevaeh for me."

Gramma huffed, slamming down a huge platter of potatoes just a little roughly. "That woman," she grumbled, "Always gotta make everything difficult."

Pouting, Hannah argued, "It ain't Nevaeh's fault, Mama. She's sick."

"Come on, Hannah Lynn," Tess piped up, making a grab for a roll only to get her hand slapped away by the head chef, "You know Nevaeh's always been a spiteful snake. Now she's just got an excuse to say all the evil nonsense in her head."

Hannah frowned.

"So, um," Merry cut in awkwardly, "Who's Nevaeh?"

Giving her nephew a fond smile and pat on the arm, Hannah explained, "She's my mother-in-law. I been takin care of her since her stroke a few years back."

Merry returned the smile, beaming, "That's really nice of you."

"Saintly is more like it," Tess chirped, finally managing to snag a thin slice of cold meat while her mother's back was turned, "Nevaeh don't deserve Hannah Lynn. She 's always treated her like _go-se_, like some kinda ignorant servant girl."

"She's _sick_," Hannah insisted, "And she don't got nobody else!"

"Cuz she's evil and nobody else tolerates her," Tess contributed, seeming determined to get the last word, "Nobody tolerated her even before her stroke. You know it, Hannah Lynn, or else you wouldn't have left her at home. She definitely would've been a royal bitch to the kids, and there ain't no sense in scarin 'em so early on."

Red in the face, Hannah opened her mouth to continue the argument.

"That's enough," Gramma interrupted, pushing between her two daughters, "Go see how far along the table set up is. Make sure we got enough chairs."

"Yes, Mama," Tess and Hannah chimed together, leaving the room in silence only to start bickering again as soon as they were out of sight.

Gramma sighed and shook her head.

River twirled barefoot through the kitchen, smiling as bright as a sun.

xxXxx

Dana stepped out the back door just in time to see Retta punch Billy in the head and Billy then tackle Retta roughly to the ground. Momentarily stunned, Dana found himself unable to do anything but watch as the two teens rolled through the grass, fighting without much (any) skill but with more than enough ferocity to compensate. Howling and snarling and screaming insults.

Looking more annoyed than concerned, Uncle William and Uncle Nigel abandoned the nearby cooking pit and, with seemingly well-rehearsed techniques, separated their brawling children.

Uncle William held Billy with a firm grasp on the teen's disheveled shirt collar, sighing, "Can't you behave for one day?"

"She started it!" Billy insisted, glaring daggers at Retta, who was being restrained with quite a bit more effort on the part of her own father.

"_Tsai boo shr_!" Retta snarled, trying like hell to escape the exceedingly long arms trapping her trim waist, "He said I must'a cheated in my last shoot! How in the hell would he even know?! Not like he ever comes, unless it's to try his lame lines on my friends!"

"Enough!" Uncle Nigel barked, looking greatly distressed by his current predicament, "We've talked about this a hundred times! If you and your cousin can't be civil to one another, then you have to stay away from each other!"

"But, Daddy-"

"No buts!" Uncle Nigel ordered sternly, gradually letting the teen free as she calmed. "Good," he declared, peevishly straightening his neat hair and clothing, "Now please go see if your mother and grandmother need any help, and then check on your sisters."

Grumbling, the girl threw one more look of disgust at Billy before stomping off towards the house... towards Dana...

"Uh," he gaped, unsure about whether or not it was safe to deal with his cousin when she was in such a foul mood. His own sisters could be quite dangerous when they reached such states, and Dana was man enough to admit that angry women kind of terrified him.

Rolling her eyes, Retta made sure to throw out an only slightly forced smile as she passed. "Don't look so scared, cuz," the auburn-haired girl stated, trying her best to be friendly, "You seem a lot smarter and better behaved than that _fei-fei de pi-yan_, so I'm sure we'll get along just fine." She chuckled and was gone inside the house.

Dana let out a held breath he hadn't realized was constricting his chest. He felt much better.

"Hey," Billy greeted, already bright and beaming again as he bounded over. "Don't mind me 'n Rett," he laughed, like he didn't still have blood on his teeth, "Like dogs 'n koalas, man. Natural enemies."

Breaking into a small, somewhat confused smile, Dana observed, "Apparently."

"Come on," Billy chirped, slinging a thick arm around Dana's shoulders and leading him around the side of the house. "I forgot the extra plates," the brunette announced excitedly, "My ma loaned 'em to one of her teachers, and now we gotta go get 'em back."

"Ok," Dana responded, not quite sure why his cousin was so eager for the errand.

"It's my buddy Boomer's family," Billy explained delightedly, long strides eating up the ground between them and the hovercraft, "She'll prolly be around 'n you can meet her. She's a racer, too. Got a couple wins already, though I was totally beatin her on all of 'em before I crashed."

Dana chuckled, hopping into the passenger seat with barely a moment to spare before Billy was beside him and the teens were peeling off down the drive.

xxXxx

Trying to build an auto-injector bracelet from scratch, with enough modifications to prevent Sally from ripping the device off at his first available opportunity was hard enough. With Winnie looking over her shoulder, Hunter was finding the job nearly impossible.

"What's that?" Winnie questioned brightly, jabbing a painted fingernail into Hunter's work field.

Biting back the urge to growl in frustration, Hunter replied, "It's the injector mechanism and medicine cartridge out of the epi-pen we used on Sally earlier. I'm using it as a template because I'm going to hollow out a solid piece of steel for the bracelet. Hopefully Sally won't be able to disable it that way."

"Oh," Winnie chimed, peppy and interested and _annoying_, "That's shiny! You're so smart, Hunter! How do you know how to do all this stuff? Did the Alliance teach you?"

Shrugging, the redheaded teen declared, "Some of it. But a lot I figured out myself. It's always just seemed really obvious to me. Besides, this one's simple. There's a coiled up spring, and when you trigger it, it shoots the needle out. The hard part is making the sensor to monitor spikes in his vitals and making the whole thing into something Sally can't break or take off."

Winnie nodded and agreed, "Poor guy. I'm the same way 'bout snakes. They give me the heebie jeebies."

Hunter was unfamiliar with the phrase but assumed its meaning from the context of the sentence.

"Yo, Winnie!" Tristan cried out, waving silverware at them from the other side of the cluster of mismatched tables in the side yard, "You gonna help with this or what?"

Smiling sweetly, the sunny teen replied, "Seems like you and Zi and Jan got it handled. I wouldn't want any 'a my girlie _go-se_ gettin in your way."

"Aw, come on," the tall dark teen pouted, seeming genuinely contrite, "You know I was just jokin."

"Ya," Winnie chuckled mockingly, "It was real funny. In fact, I'm still all woozy from laughin so hard. I think it's best if I rest here awhile. I'll let you know when I'm feelin up to helpin out."

Tristan rolled his eyes, and Hunter snorted back a laugh. That was a pretty good one. Maybe she needed to give Winnie some credit. The girl was really trying to be friends. And Hunter didn't really know why she was so annoyed by her cousin. There was just... something strange about her, with her giggling, airheaded, naïve girliness. Hunter had never really met anyone quite like Winnie before.

A bit of commotion had Hunter turning just as Frankie and Ethan and a crowd of little kids walked by. Ethan had a rather dazed-looking Kelly hanging limply in his meaty arms.

Hunter started to jump up, Jan started to sprint over from the other end of the tables, but Frankie stopped them both with a bright wave, upbeat and breezy as she declared, "He's fine. Just breaking boards again."

Rolling her eyes, Hunter sank back down into her seat and replied, "There is something seriously wrong with that kid."

"Because his head isn't quite as hard as yours yet?" Frankie teased, running a soothing hand through Kelly's curls.

Jan snickered, bent over a half-done place setting.

Vaguely affronted, Hunter returned, "No, because he keeps intentionally slamming his head into things hard enough to knock himself out. You'd think he would've learned his lesson after at least the first three times or so."

"Tryin' to do better," Kelly pouted blearily, slurring, "S'rry." The kid's pale gangliness seemed infinitely more apparent against Ethan's dark bulk.

"Aw, Kel," Hunter sighed, "I didn't mean anything by it. Just stop hurting yourself. Breaking boards with your head isn't exactly a life skill, you know? If you can't do it, you can't do it."

"Can too," Kelly complained, blinking owlishly, "Just... not good sometimes... and it doesn't hurt. Just... I dunno. Sleepy."

Again, Hunter sighed. It probably wouldn't do any good to argue with the kid when he was so altered. Not that arguing with him when he wasn't did much good either. They'd all had this conversation with him numerous times. He didn't seem to want to give up.

As Ethan and his entourage continued on towards the house, she could hear Frankie taking up the talking to.

"Gosh," Winnie gasped, looking rather white and worried, almost teary, "I hope Kelly'll be ok."

"He's fine," Hunter assured the girl, aware of Tristan and Zion drifting closer to hear the exchange, "He usually just sleeps it off, and then he's back to wanting to break things with his head."

Smirking, Tristan laughed, "Funny little dude."

"He'll fit in here just fine," Zion agreed with a blinding grin.

Hunter felt herself smile.

xxXxx

The house they pulled up on was significantly smaller than Gramma Cobb's. However, it was just as quaint and homey. Three children sat outside in the grass, a boy and girl about Murph's age and a toddler with a zero-gravity halo of curly black hair.

Billy swung his hovercraft up and stopped on a dusty dime, leaping out and waiting for Dana to catch up before taking up his own bowlegged walk towards the cluster of kids. "Hey, guys," he greeted brightly, waving, "Boomer around?"

The older girl pouted at him, pushing sandy blonde hair out of her deep brown eyes. "_Petra_ is helpin Haruko and Ivana with dinner," she piped up, kind of teasing, "You can go on in, if you like. Petra proly made extra for you again."

"Just boppin by, Tate," Billy chuckled, slinging a thick arm around his cousin's shoulders as he added, "Pickin up the plates. This is my new cuz, Dana. These're Tate, Arkady, and lil' Zora. Boomer's cousins."

"Hi," Dana greeted, smiling warmly, "Nice to meet you."

Tate sighed heavily, dreamily, just about melting as she chirped, "Hi."

The dark-haired boy, Arkady, scowled and refused to make eye contact.

Zora, the baby girl, just squealed happily, chubby hands grasping up at Billy, who quickly swung the giggling child onto his hip, blowing a raspberry against her slender neck before stomping off towards the wide open porch.

Billy didn't knock, just walked through the front door like he owned the place, hung a sharp right and called, "Boomer!"

Hesitantly following, Dana saw that the inside of the house was just as quaint as the outside, a neat, inviting living room--with a Buddhist shrine in the far corner--giving way to a bright, cheery little kitchen. The house even smelled friendly, like whatever spices were in whatever wonderful dish was simmering on the stove.

"Cut it out, Billy!" Dana heard a high shriek and saw that his cousin had a skinny young woman in a head lock, was laughing as she threw some pretty hard punches into Billy's gut.

Billy just grinned, ruffling the young woman's short, spiky black hair.

"If you two are gonna wrestle," one of the other woman, the one who was older than Billy's captive but much younger than the one stirring the food, "You'd best take it outside." She had Zora on her hip, jiggling and soothing the squirming baby with seemingly well-practiced ease.

The captive took that moment to stomp hard on Billy's instep, making the brunette yelp and release his hold. She stood and, smiling, shot him an elbow to the ribs. "Bastard," she laughed, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Mama needs her plates back," Billy reported, turning to address the older woman near the stove, "Sorry, Mrs. York. I know I was sposta get 'em earlier, but I forgot."

"That's quite alright, Billy," the woman soothed, voice a gentle, melodic murmur compared to the loud, brash affect of the other two. She wiped her hands off on a faded towel, reporting, "They're in the box near the front door. You can just grab them on your way out." She nodded towards Dana, prompting, "Are you going to introduce us?"

"Oh, ya," Billy laughed, "This is my cousin Dana. These're Mrs. York-"

"Haruko," the petite older woman interrupted, bowing deeply to expose the complicated knot of black hair on the top of her head, "Very pleased to meet you."

"You too, ma'am," Dana answered with his own polite bow.

Billy pointed to the older of the two younger women, adding, "Ivana Ngo."

The girl also had shortish black hair, looked a little bit like Haruko except with lighter eyes and a truly wicked grin. She was taller by at least a foot and waved brightly, which Dana returned with a friendly smile.

Billy turned to the other girl, probably the youngest of the group by a few years, and happily declared, "And this is Boomer-"

"_Petra_," she hissed, getting Billy with another rib shot even as she offered her free hand out to Dana, "Petra Ngo. This idiot just has a thing for nicknames."

The young woman had short, spiky black hair, pale eyes like Ivana's. They could've been the same person except that Ivana was much taller, that Petra had a sweeter face, round and open and bright and dusted lightly with sunspots across the flat bridge of her nose and cheekbones. Dana tried not to blush as he noticed the other, ah, _assets_ Petra and her sister and their low-cut tank-tops and hip-hugging jeans had in common.

"I know how you feel," Dana laughed, "The most annoying nicknames always seem to stick the hardest."

"Poor man," Petra chuckled, smirking prettily, "You want me to even ask, or is it too painful to admit?"

Feeling himself blush (again, gorramit), Dana answered, "My brothers and sisters like to call me Mouse."

Petra's face morphed into that mushy, just-spotted-a-kitten look that girls were so good at. "That is _adorable_!" she chirped, kind of laughing, "How many you got again? Billy was tellin me ya'll damn near doubled his family!"

"There're ten of us all together," Dana reported, "Though only nine were a surprise." He could have spoken to Petra for awhile longer; she seemed very nice. However, that was the moment when a dull, thus far unnoticed hum of background noise became loud enough to be an issue.

It was an engine; Dana was sure of that much. From the varied expressions of annoyance and anger on everyone's faces, they knew to what and to whom the engine belonged.

"I warned him," Petra snarled, stalking off and returning quickly with a beat-up cowboy hat and a sawed off shotgun and a manic smile, "Now I get to shoot his ass."

"Whoa!" Billy gasped, grabbing the barrel and angling it towards the ground, "Think maybe you're overreactin?"

Glaring, Petra pointedly growled, "I. Warned. Him."

"I know, sweetness," Billy said, slowly taking the gun out of his friend's hands, "But if you shoot him now, Aunt Tess is gonna have to miss family dinner to come out here and investigate and clean up the body. And she ain't gonna be too pleased 'bout that. I'll get rid of him, and if he comes back _after_ dinner, you can shoot him then. Deal?"

"Ugh!" Petra huffed, stomping her little foot, "Fine! But I swear to Buddha, Billy. He sets one damn spoiler on this property again, and he _will_ get pumped full 'a lead! You make that crystal clear, _dong ma_?"

Smirking fondly, Billy declared, "I think me 'n cuz can handle it. Right?"

Dana, who had been thus far just kind of confused and uneasy and attempting to remain unnoticed, coughed, "Uh. Ya. Ya, ok. Sure."

"Alright then," Billy said, striding towards the front door, "Let's get to it."

Once outside, waiting for the approaching cloud of dust to reveal its mysteries, Dana stood next to his cousin and asked, "What's going on?"

"Boomer's ex-boyfriend likes stop by from time to time," Billy answered, seeming far less cavalier now that he wasn't trying to talk down his friend, "Drive his hovercraft through the gardens, pull donuts on the lawn, knock over fences. Fool stuff like that. When he's feelin especially manly, he does his best to beat down the door. She usually just yells at him until he leaves, but it scares her little cousins, you know? She told him last time that if he came back again, she'd shoot him. Much as I detest the man, that's gonna make a lot of problems for Boomer... You ok to help out? You don't have to."

"No, I will," Dana replied, vicariously pissed off that anyone would behave in such a way, and to such a nice girl, too, "It sounds like this guy just needs to be taught some manners."

Laughing, Billy nudged the brim of his hat down over his eyes and declared, "Good man."

The cloud of dust was getting closer, the engine sound obnoxiously louder.

And Dana was ready, for whatever came next.

xxXxx

Jan and the rest of the cousins had finished setting up the table and wandered off some time ago to horse around on the lawn, joining in when some of the other kids and Jayne and Mal and Uncles Matty and William started up a kind of toss-the-ball-tackle-the-guy-with-the-ball game.

At the table still, Hunter was kind of distracted, kind of in-the-zone engineering what she hoped was the final mechanism on the prototype for Sally's new bracelet. So she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something squirm up under her arm.

"Jeez, Murph," the redhead sighed, relaxing, allowing her little sister to get comfortable against her side, "You scared the _go-se_ outta me."

Pouting, Murphy softly answered, "Sorry."

"It's ok," Hunter said, frowning. After a brief moment of silence, of watching Murphy sadly fiddling with some silverware, Hunter questioned, "What's the word, little one?"

"Nothing," Murphy replied.

Hunter gave it a few seconds.

Finally, the little girl looked up, all big, pleading blue eyes as she asked, "Are you finished with Sally's bracelet yet?"

"I think I got the mechanism prototype taken care of," Hunter declared, tugging Murph closer to let her get a look at the parts spread out on the towel in front of them, "I won't be able to finish until tomorrow. I need better tools to hollow out the steel to put the medicine inside, and Uncle William said he has them at his shop."

"Well," Murphy ventured hesitantly, "Couldn't he take you tonight?" She looked up at Hunter again, still sad and pleading, and added, "Sally really should have to wear it now."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Hunter asked. She tugged playfully on one of Murphy's neat pink-blonde braids. "Sal's under 24/7 surveillance until I attach something to him to do it for us. He's going to be fine. Ok?"

Not looking convinced, Murph just shrugged.

Hunter sighed. She really wasn't good at be comforting. She didn't have the patience and didn't think her once-upon-a-best-case-scenario stories were particularly believable. Hunter's best fibs always had ninjas or pirates in them, and, try as she might, she just couldn't think of a place for either in this particular tale.

"You want to help me?" she finally offered, not waiting for an answer, just putting a screwdriver in the little girl's hand and guiding it into place. "Hold it right... there," she said, smiling against Murph's cheek. Having a helper didn't really make the job easier; actually, it was a little less convenient now.

But Murphy had her tongue stuck out, her brow furrowed in concentration, and she didn't look sad or pleading or worried anymore.

So Hunter could totally adapt.

xxXxx

The craft didn't have a name, not that Dana could see. What it did have was an engine so loud and so big that it blocked out all other sound as well as half the view out the windshield. It was obviously an expensive vehicle, much more expensive and with a hell of a lot more gadgets and accessories than Billy's. But Dana could tell that it didn't have nearly as much character, wasn't regarded with half as much love.

The driver was carelessly, needlessly rough on the gears and the brakes when he stopped, sprayed Dana and Billy with a cloud of red dust.

Both young men stood their ground, though Dana understood now why Billy had tugged the brim of his hat down over his eyes. That _go-se_ stung like living hell.

By the time he'd blinked his vision clear, the driver was out and stomping right for them.

The man looked younger than he probably was, leading with his smooth, heavy jaw and dark, piercing eyes. He had nice boots made of some kind of gray-green reptile skin. Black jeans showing no signs of wear, a crisp white collared shirt, a thick gold chain settled at the hollow of his slender throat.

"Well, well, well," he declared as he approached, removing his hat to shake the dust off of it and out of his rich, wavy blonde hair, "If it ain't my favorite DNF. Thought you had plans this evenin, Cobb. Somethin 'bout a herd 'a trick babies bein added to your backward heathen clan."

"That'd be me," Dana said before he could stop himself. He'd had no plans to speak unless spoken to, but, well. That sort of talk needed to first be addressed civilly if he wanted to feel justified in later throwing a punch. "And I'd thank you not to talk about my family like that."

The man snorted, barely spared Dana a glance before turning back to Billy and snarling, "Get outta my way, you idiot, and take your monkey friend with you. I didn't drive halfway 'cross this rock to stare at your ugly mug. I get quite enough of that in the rearview durin races."

Smirking lazily, Billy hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and declared, "Hello to you, too, Gideon. You seem lost. Can I point you in the direction a' somewhere you're actually welcome? Somewhere you're likely _not_ to get greeted with the business end a' Boomer's favorite sawed off?"

The man, Gideon, seemed to be getting more and more pissed off by the second. "You really wanna make yourself a party to this?" he demanded, "Cuz you're either gonna get outta my way or I'm gonna go through you. There ain't no other option here."

"Re-lax, Gid," Billy teased, still quite calm (deceptively so, Dana hoped), "I'm sure we can all pretend to be gentlemen for at least a few minutes. How 'bout you scamper and we don't kick your ass? How's that sound?"

That finally got a hint of a smile out of Gideon, a scathing chuckle. "Thought your mama didn't approve a' her lil babies fightin," he spat mockingly, "That is the reason you keep givin for why you won't join the boxin league, right? Your retard brother gets a pass, but you? Able bodied, of age, and hidin behind a skirt. 'Scuse me if I ain't exactly shakin in my boots."

All of Dana's instincts were screaming at him to hit this man in the face. Repeatedly. But he settled for remaining tense and ready.

No longer quite as calm, Billy still seemed to be making an effort to remain so. "Mama don't like prize fightin," he drawled, "But she's got an entirely different policy 'bout private matters such as this one." He schooled his features into a stony mask of contempt before adding, "And you utter so much as one more gorram word 'bout my brother, and the fact that I have strict instructions not to kill you ain't gonna do either of us a lick 'a good."

Smirking now, openly because he'd gotten the reaction he'd been after, Gideon joked, "So gorram noble. Too bad I ain't scared 'a noble."

"How 'bout guns, Gideon?" Petra shouted from behind them, loudly cocking her shotgun, "You scared 'a those?"

Billy turned his head, yelled, "Stay in the house, Boomer. We got this."

That was around the time that Gideon took a swing

Dana was ready. Had been ready, so it was really no problem to catch the man's fist before it could connect with the rear of Billy's skull. It was also no problem to twist Gideon's arm up and in between his shoulder blades and hold it there firmly while the man's knees buckled and he shrieked in agony.

"In a fair fight," Dana stated pointedly, using his free hand to get Gideon back onto his feet with a rough grip on the man's stiff leather belt, "You don't hit your opponent when his back is turned."

"LET GO, YOU STUPID BASTARD!!!" Gideon hollered, thrashing briefly before becoming overwhelmed by the pain it brought. After a few deep, shuddering breaths, he hissed, "Get your filthy hands off me!! You have any idea who I am?!"

Gideon couldn't quite manage to get his legs under himself, but Dana saw to that as well, using the grip on the man's belt to heft him nearly off his expensive boots. After that, it really wasn't much more effort to physically haul him back to his hovercraft and stuff him into it. Headfirst.

Once free from the painful hold, Gideon flailed ridiculously trying to get himself situated respectably in the driver's seat and then trying to get at Dana. He was red-faced, seeming furious beyond words.

Billy appeared on Dana's left, carrying Gideon's hat, which had apparently been knocked off and crushed a bit in the struggle. With a huge shit-eating grin, Billy brushed the hat off, then jammed it down on Gideon's head.

While Gideon was busy wrestling the hat out of his eyes, Billy leaned into the cab and flicked a few switches. The hovercraft's engines came to life with a deafening roar, and the whole vehicle shot off at breakneck speed.

Dana and Billy stood next to each other and watched it go, waiting to see if it turned back their way. The dust cloud was halfway to the horizon when Billy seemed to reach the conclusion that they were in the clear.

"WOO!" he hollered brightly, laughing, cuffing Dana playfully on the arm, "That was freakin AWESOME!!! You have _got_ to show me some 'a them moves!!"

"Me, too," Petra contributed as she appeared beside them, staring dreamily up at Dana for only a brief moment before she launched herself at him for a big hug. "You were so amazin," the petite young woman gushed, pulling back and no doubt finding Dana blushing up to his ears, "Thank you."

"Uh, you're welcome," Dana coughed, kind of hoping that the bright red from the setting sun was at least sort of camouflaging the furious red of his face. "It was no trouble."

"I'll bet it wasn't," Billy laughed, still grinning quite happily, "HA! The sight 'a that prissy ass upended in that cab! Man, that is gonna stick with me!"

Giggling, Petra laced her arm through Dana's and guided the young man back towards the house. "It really was the next best thing to shootin him," she declared appreciatively, "Come on inside and let me make you a snack."

Dana opened his mouth to politely refuse, but Billy cut him off, bouncing along behind them as he excitedly asked, "You got any honeycomb candy? I'll bet Dana would _love _some honeycomb candy."

"Sure he would," Petra answered. She leaned in closer to Dana before giving a conspiratorial wink and whisper of, "Your boy has a bit of a sweet tooth, and subtlety ain't never been his strength."

xxXxx

Sal woke feeling groggy, fuzzy. But he was still on the couch in Gramma's living room, still had the warm, gentle weight of Murphy on his chest. Absently, the young man reached out with his unstung hand to touch his sister's head.

Only he didn't feel braids, just short curls. He sat up a bit and found Kelly sleeping soundly in Murphy's place.

Confused, Sally pushed himself up on the couch, adjusting Kelly's limp weight as he went. There was no one else in the room, but Sal could hear voices in the kitchen, could smell some fairly delicious smells originating from the same place.

His head hurt, but he still managed to get his feet on the floor, was going to stand... as soon as the room stopped spinning. Whatever. In the meantime, Sal glanced down at his sleeping brother, noticed a darkening bruise on the boy's pale forehead and was pretty sure what had happened.

"Breaking boards again, huh, runt?" Sal laughed quietly to himself, feeling ready to stand, "When're you going to learn?"

Kelly snuffled in his sleep, small hands briefly grasping at Sal's shirt as Sal transferred his brother down onto the couch. Then the boy went completely limp once again, boneless. Sally covered him with a thin blanket.

Frowning unhappily at his swollen hand, scratching very unhappily at the needle mark on his hip, Sally wandered into the kitchen.

"Oh, you're up!" Aunt Hannah gushed, immediately appearing at his side, bouncing up on tiptoes to give the young man a peck on the chin (she'd probably been aiming for his cheek, but Sal was a lot taller than the petite woman). Pushing him down into a chair at the kitchen table, Aunt Hannah went on, "You take a seat and rest, sweetheart. We're gonna serve dinner just as soon as Billy and Dana get back with the plates."

"Though when that's gonna be is anybody's guess," Aunt Tess laughed, her and Miss Zoe bent over a disassembled rifle spread out over the other end of the table, "Billy wasn't exactly the best choice to head the mission. He can sit around 'n talk to Petra all gorram day."

"I'm sure they'll be back soon," Aunt Alma spoke up, sparing Sally a fond smile, "Billy gets distracted, but Petra's pretty good 'bout sendin' him on his way when she knows he needs to be home."

Nodding, Aunt Tess agreed, "Ya, she's a real good kid. And a fine racer. Too bad she's got such crap taste in men."

"Oh, hush up," Gramma scolded, placing a glass of lemonade in front of Sally with a wink, "You had quite the stupid streak 'fore you settled down with Nigel. 'Member the one with all the tattoos? And the singin sniper? Lord, I'm thankful every day you came to your senses and blessed me with a decent son-in-law."

"Why thank you, Sam," Uncle Nigel declared as he and Simon arrived through the back door. Uncle Nigel bent to press a fond kiss to the old woman's white hair. "I'm quite glad of it as well."

Simon went straight to Sally, taking a pulse from the teen's wrist and questioning, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," Sal muttered impatiently, snatching his wrist back, "It was just a stupid bee sting. You guys totally overreacted."

Frowning clinically, looking just a tiny bit ridiculous with his bald head starting to sunburn, the doctor declared, "I don't think you realize just how serious your condition is. Without treatment, anaphylaxis is usually fatal. You're going to need to be a lot more careful from now on, Sally."

"I'll be sure to start carrying a flyswatter," Sal snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Don't sass the doctor," Gramma responded, hands on small, slender hips, "He and your sister took very good care of you."

Sighing, Sal grumbled, "Yes, ma'am." He wasn't sure how much he was going to enjoy having parental figures other than Mouse. He could usually tell Mouse to screw himself; with Gramma or any of his aunts and uncles, he was mostly going to have to answer "yes, sir," "yes, ma'am." It was... weird. Like having a drill sergeant who cuddled and kissed him and made him lemonade.

Thinking back on some of the drill sergeants he had had over the years, Sally shuddered and tried hard to block the image from his mind.

The hum of a far-off engine signaled a lull and then a change in the conversation.

"That'll be Billy and Dana," Gramma beamed, poking her head out the back door and shouting, "Kids! Come on in here and help carry food to the table!"

There were general cries of excitement, a few along the lines of "about gorram time," and a stampede of bodies came rushing into the kitchen, talking and laughing and shouting, grabbing up two or three wonderful-smelling dishes a piece and pouring outside to get them set up. Several of Sal's siblings and cousins made return trips just to ask him if he was ok. Ace lectured and fussed. Murphy jumped into his lap and latched onto his chest and refused to let go. Frankie went to wake Kelly, coming back with the bright boy who seemed none the worse for wear.

Billy and Mouse made their arrival, Mouse blushing like crazy and carrying a large box, Billy smirking brightly and toting a large covered plate. "Sorry for takin so long," Billy announced, setting the plate down on an open counter, "We ended up havin to get rid 'a Gideon. Dana was awesome! You shoulda seen him!"

"Don't be gettin your cousin in trouble already," Uncle William declared, absolutely stoic as usual but still somehow just slightly proud of both boys.

"Wasn't nothin," Billy chuckled, "Just Dana takin care a' business with the stuck-up horse humper-"

"Watch that _mouth_!" Gramma interrupted, swatting the boy sharply on his backside with a dishtowel.

Both the resulting _CRACK_ and Billy's shrill yelp of pain had the whole room in hysterics.

xxXxx

Somehow, Mal ended up sitting between Jayne's brother Matty and the unholy ginger menace herself. On the girl's other side was, unsurprisingly, Jan, who kept glancing down into his own palm.

Hunter didn't let the behavior go on for too long before investigating, demanding, "What're you doing?"

Jan glanced up guiltily, trying to hide his hand against his chest. "Nothing," he insisted.

But his sister didn't accept that answer and grabbed his hand in an instant, investigating and shortly breaking out into a bright grin. "Cribnotes?" she accused him, laughing softly, "Seriously? What'd you do, copy the dossier?"

Jan snatched back his hand, blushing as he hissed, "Shut up. I didn't want to forget anybody's name. We can't all be freaky geniuses."

Still snickering, Hunter teased, "Cheater." She grabbed the appendage again, beamed at her sheepish brother, and then licked his palm in one quick, deft sweep. The flat of her tongue came away smeared with black ink, the same black ink of the now ruined writing on Jan's hand.

The young man grimaced, trying to wipe away the saliva and wet ink by smudging his hand against Hunter's cheek.

The redhead squealed loudly as she was streaked black with the imprint of runny letters from temple to chin and wasted no time tackling her brother out of his chair. The pair grappled for a few moments in the dirt, grunting curses that probably would've gotten them in some trouble had the words been loud enough for anyone but Mal to overhear.

With a surprising and impressive burst of speed, Dana was down from the other end of the table in a split second, yanking his brother and sister apart by the collar and waist, respectively. He growled something that Mal couldn't make out, and the terrible twosome's struggles instantly ceased.

Dana set them down and, quickly and without warning, switched Hunter's chair for Mal's. With the captain still in it.

"Whoa!" the old browncoat yelped, flailing as he found himself briefly airborne. Gorram, just when he thought Dana couldn't surprise him anymore, the kid went and threw him around like a rutting ragdoll.

Seeming to realize his mistake too late, Dana blushed a little and stated, "Sorry, sir. Do you mind? They won't stop if I leave them next to each other."

Mal swallowed hard, trying to get his heart rate back to normal. "Guess not," he muttered, finding that only his pride had been wounded by the sudden seating change, "But askin first next time would be appreciated."

"Yes, sir," Dana chirped. He shot one more dangerous, warning glance at Jan and Hunter, watching closely as they returned to their spots before jogging off back to his own.

Matty Cobb slung an arm around his niece's petite shoulders, grinning over the top of her head and proudly observing, "Feisty little thing." He bounced his dark-haired daughter and laughed, "Must be in the genes, huh, Sadie?"

Sadie frowned and said nothing, blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

On the other side of the table, Sally slapped Merry's hands away from the food. "You have to wait," the giant informed his pouting brother.

"Wait for what?" Merry complained, "I'm hungry!"

The preacher, Nigel Sheridan, stood and cleared his throat.

A hush quickly fell over the assembled crowd.

"Join hands, please," the tall man murmured warmly.

Praying: Mal wasn't really a fan but, regardless, allowed himself to become one more link in the unbroken chain going around the table. It didn't escape his notice that most of Jayne's kids seemed confused about what they were doing even as they went along with it. Sally whispered to Merry, "Wait for this."

Nigel bowed his head, pronouncing, "Dear Lord, thank you for the bounty we are about to receive and for the blessings you have bestowed upon us in your infinite mercy and wisdom. We are especially fortunate this day to be able to come together as a family united at last and grateful for every treasured moment in each others' company. Amen."

More murmured _amen_s went up from the group. Hands were released and went immediately for the food.

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

hou-zi de pi-gu - monkey's butt

kuang-zhe de - nuts

go-se - crap

tsai boo shr - no way

fei-fei de pi-yan - baboon's asscrack

dong ma - understand

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

DNF - racing slang for "Did Not Finish."

Many humble apologies for the ridiculous delay. Writer's block is a bitch, and this chapter was not cooperating at all. I still hate the ending, but it needed to be finished. Meh. Anyways, more hopefully soon, and reviews are still appreciated :)


	14. Part 14: The Golden Rule

Part 14 - The Golden Rule

Murphy stared up at him, blue eyes sad and wet, and asked in her most pleading, terrified voice, "Why do I have to go to school?"

Dana sighed, petted her pretty, curly pink-blonde bob and knelt before the sweet little girl. "Because," he replied, forcing a crooked smirk, "That's what kids do. You'll learn a lot, and you'll make a whole bunch of new friends, and it'll be fun."

Her expression remained very close to devastated as she latched onto Dana's hand, pouting, "I don't believe you. Don't make me go. _Please_."

Again, Dana sighed. Murph was still pretty into her whole separation-anxiety phase, and nothing anyone said was managing to talk her out of it; she just about threw a tantrum if she didn't have at least one sibling in sight at all times, was only really calm when she knew with absolute certainty that they were all within a set perimeter.

"Give it a chance, alright?" the brunette pleaded, "For me? After a week, if you really don't like going, then we'll talk about doing something else."

Skeptical, Murphy muttered, "Promise?"

"Cross my heart," Dana chuckled, knowing that his sister had heard the phrase from Ruby and Winnie and Lijah and that she was slightly infatuated with it.

The tiny blonde beamed.

"C'MON!" Merry shouted, bouncing impatiently several yards down the road with the rest of the siblings and cousins, "We're gonna be late! We can't be late on the first day of school!"

Downright jubilant, twice as twitchy, dragging a very startled Colt by the arm, Kelly agreed, "YA! Hurry! I want to meet my teacher!"

With a laugh, Dana swung Murphy up onto his back and continued down the dusty red dirt road, squinting against the rising sun.

xxXxx

One weekend with his family was more than enough to convince Dana that Galena was going to be a great home. Aside from the fun, friendly, doting relatives, there were farms and orchards, small forests and broad plains where Kelly could run to his heart's content. Hunter actually squealed the first time she laid eyes on Uncle William's junkyard and garage, and Auntie Hannah's restaurant even had dancing most nights; Merry and Frankie were just old enough to be allowed in after hours and were pleased as pie. Sally had been greatly enjoying the very attractive female population of the small planet and had even proven surprisingly effective in religious debates with Uncle Nigel. After seeing the kids spar one lazy afternoon, Aunt Tess kept dropping hints about always looking for new deputies; the recrutement boot camp would be in the spring.

As soon as they stashed the little ones at school, Dana, Sally, and Ace were all set to spend the day sorting out jobs for themselves, wanting to keep amused and useful until it was time to bring in Gramma Cobb's crops and move her cattle. That was something of a family affair and would be coming up in less than two months. Dana just hoped that he could learn to stay on a horse by then; the few lessons he'd endured had been so far ineffective. And he had the impressive bruises to prove it.

"This is it!" Winnie declared, holding tight to Sally's broad shoulders after having pouted herself into a piggyback ride, "We're way early! Nobody's even here!"

Maybe a mile and a half from the main town, Dana surveyed the plain but cheerful school building, the huge, shady trees in the yard and the twists and slabs of metal he vaguely recognized as playground equipment. He hadn't seen playground equipment since before he got reclaimed...

"Mama said to just go round back when we got here," Billy announced, swinging a giggling Kelly around by his ankles, "Her and the other teachers hang out there and have coffee before the students show. She said she'd get everybody introduced."

Murphy clung limply to Dana's neck, whimpering against his nape as the impressive and complete crowd of Cobb offspring (along with the _Serenity _munchkins) travelled through the playground and finally caught sight of six adults gathered at one of many old picnic tables.

"Oh, good!" Aunt Alma cried brightly, dark, round face breaking out in a sweet smile as she stood and waved, "I was hopin you'd get here soon! C'mon over!"

Introductions took half of forever. Even though they wouldn't be staying permanently, Melody, Lukas, Noah, Ben, and Gabe had all begged to attend with the other kids and seemed pleased with their kind teachers, Mrs. Hennessy (the mother of Retta's boyfriend, Shen) for Melody and the triplets and Mr. York (the second husband of Petra's aunt) for Gabe, as well as Ruby and Jem.

Murphy's teacher seemed like a different story. Stiff Ms. Arkwright was youngish but her humorless face and severe bun made her look at least eighty. Even though the little girl's reluctance and fear were obvious, Ms. Arkwright didn't even attempt to soothe them, rigidly listing off the rules of her classroom and the penalties for breaking them. Dana didn't like Ms. Arkwright, but Lijah would be in the class, too, as well as Arkady and Tate, Petra's little cousins, so he figured that Murphy would at least have some friends around. Plus, his little sister was definitely a lot tougher than she looked.

Kelly and Colt were also in the same class, their teacher Mr. Valenti. He also seemed nice, not to mention high-energy, laughing and joking and gesturing wildly as he talked. Hopefully, the young, core-born educator would be a good match for the supernova. And, it turned out, Mr. Valenti's twin brother worked at one of the planet's small clinics. Ace was happy to hear all about that.

The teacher he really felt sorry for was Miss Song, who couldn't have been that much older than Dana and was getting stuck with Hunter, Zion, Tristan, and Winnie. They had already proven to be a kind of dangerous alliance of minds. Dana made it a point to wish Miss Song a great deal of luck, trying like hell to ignore how pretty she was...

At least he wouldn't have to worry about Merry, Frankie, and Jan, who would be in Ethan's class under the direct tutelage of Aunt Alma. Well, he _thought_ he wouldn't have to worry about them. Then, as the teachers left to start herding their respective classes indoors, as Dana and the other older kids were leaving, Billy had to point out a slight problem with that assumption.

"Those two are Gideon's brother and sister," he said, nodding to a blonde boy and girl sprinting across the field in a frantic effort to be on time, "Isaiah and Rachel Giroux. They're in the sixth form. That's Mama's class."

"Great," Dana grumbled, considering sticking around for a little while. Just to be safe. Not that he didn't trust Jan and the twins to behave, but if Isaiah and Rachel were anything like their obnoxious older brother, then there would be problems no matter what. Sure, Dana had successfully managed to avoid dealing with Gideon again, but the young man wasn't too hopeful about his spiteful opponent actually letting the matter rest. In fact, Retta had warned him of some gossip to exactly that respect.

"Quit worryin him," Retta piped up, shooting Billy a quick and dirty gesture, "Isaiah and Rachel are sweet kids. They ain't gonna start nothin."

Scowling, Billy returned the gesture and snapped, "I never said they would! I was just tellin who they were!"

Retta rolled her eyes, shaggy auburn hair billowing messily around her chin as a slight breeze blew across the plain. "Whatever," she said, "Let's check on Auntie Hannah before goin home for the hovercraft. She might need help waitin tables again."

Sally and Ace shared a laugh, likely remember the night before when Dana filled in for an AWOL waitress at their aunt's restaurant/bar/dance hall, the Chariot, and only barely managed to get through the shift without breaking any dishes.

He could do back flips through a mine field but couldn't seem to get the hang of balancing meals on a tray, and it was rutting ridiculous.

Fiddling with his hat, Billy complained, "I hate waitin breakfast! Everybody's always in such a gorram hurry! I always end up gettin yelled at!"

"Cuz you move like molasses unless there's a half ton 'a steel under your backside," Retta pointed out smugly.

Billy scowled at his cousin, snarling, "Don't you got somethin to plug full 'a holes?"

"'course," Retta replied, "But your mama gets so tetchy when I use you for target practice."

The squabble kind of descended into name-calling after that.

xxXxx

"And that's Raj Ghosh, he's in our class. And that's his older brother, Deo. He's in the sixth form. Super _swai_, right? Oh, and that's Buddy Harland, he's kind of a chicken though. That's Jesse Proudfoot, and that's Tariq Little-Moon. He's one 'a Uncle Avi and Uncle Nik's boys. Tasty, right? Good thing he ain't really related to us. It'd be a shame havin to ignore all that potential over blood."

Winnie felt the need to point out and name every attractive male within the perimeter, and Hunter would've been ok with that (more than ok, thanks) had the names and faces not been coming too quickly to properly appreciate.

"Winnie," Tristan whined, sagging theatrically into Zion's much shorter, stockier, paler form, "You _know_ I'm allergic to this girlie _go-se_, and I don't think Hunter has time to make another one 'a those allergy bracelets, so cut it out 'fore I _die_."

Winnie pouted. "You're such a jerk sometimes," she complained, brightening again in an instant when they walked inside the sunny classroom together. "There's Priya!" the girl gushed, "Hey, Priya!"

A dark-skinned, dark-haired, dark-eyed teen put down her book, turned in her seat, and smiled sweetly, greeting, "Hey, Winnie. You have a good weekend?"

"The best!" Winnie happily proclaimed, dragging Hunter forward and declaring, "This is one of my new cousins I been tellin you about!"

"Oh," Priya chirped, standing and offering her tiny hand, "Well, it's real nice to meet you. I'm Priya Kim."

"Nice to meet you, too," Hunter replied, "Hunter Zehna."

Tristan threw his lanky arms into the air and shouted, "TRISTAN COBB!"

With a boyish giggle, Zion did the same and added, "ZION WU!"

"What're you boys yellin about now?" the pretty young teacher scolded with a smirk as she arrived at the head of a small herd of fifth-form students, thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds ready to begin a day of fine learning.

"Just lookin after our cousin," Tristan claimed, grinning impishly and ruffling Hunter's spiky lavender-red hair, "Wanna make sure she gets to know everybody real well."

Arching a pencil-thin eyebrow, Miss Song declared, "Well, how bout you take your seats, and I'll take care 'a that."

Tristan saluted deftly and marched away to his desk. Zion swept into an elegant bow and spun off into the opposite direction.

Winnie rolled her eyes, whispering, "They're such idiots. Miz Song won't let 'em sit anywhere near each other anymore cuz they're always goofin off so bad when they're together." She gave Hunter's arm an encouraging pat and then took her own seat in the front row.

Hunter remained at the front of the classroom while the rest of the students trickled in and arranged themselves in the desks. It wasn't an entirely comfortable situation: lots of twittering and staring, poorly hushed gossip.

Finally, Miss Song clapped her hands and the room quieted. She grinned excitedly and announced, "Ya'll are in for a special treat..."

xxXxx

"We have a new student joining us today," Mr. Valenti chuckled as the new student in question bounced excitedly at his side, "I'd like everyone to welcome Kelly Green."

"HI!" Kelly beamed, waving brightly at the sea of curious faces. Hopefully, his new friends.

Mr. Valenti spared the boy a fond glance, adjusting his necktie and short brown ponytail and offering, "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, Kelly?"

"Ok!" the little blonde enthusiastically agreed, thinking for a brief moment before declaring, "Well, um, I have lots of brothers and sisters. And cousins, too. Colt is one of them. And I like hoopball and sparring and climbing trees. I just learned how to do that. Oh, and I rode a horse yesterday for the first time _ever_. Her name was Sunrise, and it was really fun, except for when Dana fell off. But he was ok."

The class stared kind of blankly.

"Does anyone have any questions for Kelly before we begin the lesson?" Mr. Valenti offered.

One dark-haired boy toward the back raised his hand.

"Yes, Asher?" Mr. Valenti prompted kindly.

The boy let his hand drop back down to the desktop and inquired, "Is it true you escaped the Alliance?"

"Uh huh," Kelly said. He'd been told that he didn't have to hide anything from the people on Galena, that most of them had warrants on themselves or their loved ones and that no one would ever dream of turning anyone in; the Alliance had no supporters on world and kept out of Galena's business as long as Galena kept providing fruit, vegetables, and other useful products. The planet might as well have existed in its own little universe, isolated at the edge of their little system. "We stole a laundry shuttle," the blonde explained proudly, "Dana flew it. He's a great pilot. He didn't even hurt us when he crashed."

Kelly got more slightly awed stares, a few snickers.

Mr. Valenti gave a warm laugh and patted the boy on the shoulder. "That sounds like quite the adventure," he said, "Maybe you can tell more later, but we should be starting on math. Go ahead and take the empty desk next to Colt."

With a dutiful nod, Kelly bounced away to sit beside his cousin.

xxXxx

"Psst!" the girl beside her whispered, "Hey! New kid! Murphy!"

Murphy tried to ignore the whispers, the insistent poking in her side. She just wanted to get through class and go home, not get in trouble for talking when she wasn't supposed to. School was different than being in the Kiddie Corps (as Hunter had taken to call it), but outright defiance was pretty much never a good idea no matter what the situation; Ms. Arkwright had spent a lot of time talking about punishment, after all (and, the girl new from experience, the punishments they told you about were never as awful as the ones they thought up after you made them mad).

But the girl beside her didn't seem like she was going to leave Murphy alone. "Hey," she hissed again, adding another gentle stab of what felt like the blunt end of a pencil.

Murphy could beat her up with little to no effort, but Mouse had told everyone to behave at school. And that meant no fights. "What?" she demanded, trying not to move her lips too much as Ms. Arkwright droned on about something dumb. It was photosynthesis last time Murph really tuned in enough to be sure, but that had been awhile ago.

The girl grinned sweetly, flicking sandy fringe out of her brown eyes and murmuring, "Hi. I'm Tate York. I think I met your big brother Dana the other day. He's real _swai_."

Not really knowing what to say to that, Murphy just frowned, ignored Tate in favor of pretending to listen to Ms. Arkwright.

Tate wasn't discouraged, just poked Murphy again and whispered, "Me and Lijah and a couple others usually go play in the quarry after school. Are you gonna come?"

"No," Murphy declared, "I'm supposed to go home with my brothers and sisters." She wanted to be with them that second, hated sitting all alone in a room full of strangers.

"I bet they'd let you, if you asked them," Tate prodded, "C'mon. It's always fun. There's an old rope swing, and a cliff to jump off. And the water's real warm this time 'a year."

Squirming irritably, Murphy snapped, "I said _no_."

"Miss Gold," the teacher pointedly interrupted, "Something you'd like to share with the class?"

Feeling all eyes on her, Murphy sunk down further in her seat. "No, ma'am," she murmured.

Eerie, predatory stare never wavering, Ms. Arkwright taunted, "Are you sure? We're all curious about what you think is more important than my lesson, especially since you're _already_ so far behind."

"Sorry," Murphy said.

Ms. Arkwright glared for another few endless moments before finally turning back to the board and resuming her lecture. Something about some dumb junk that happened a way long time ago. Whatever. Murphy didn't care. School was boring and stupid, and you got yelled at and made fun of just because the mean girl next to you wouldn't shut up and leave you alone.

Another jab from Tate confirmed the mental rant. Murphy debated whether or not breaking Tate's arm would be worth seeing Dana's Disappointed Face. It would be _so_ easy...

"Hey," Tate whispered sadly, "Sorry. I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

Murphy ignored her.

xxXxx

Lunch was, by far, Jan's favorite part of school. He sighed happily into the sandwich Gramma had made and packed for him, savoring the wholesome bread and hearty meat and... and some vegetable he couldn't even identify but thought tasted really, really good.

Soon after classes let out for the break, Murphy had found him in the yard and attached herself to his side, asking repeatedly when they could go home and glaring at the kids her own age when they got too close. Even her old buddy Gabe hadn't been immune to the Medusa stare, and, dejected, he'd finally wandered away.

Whatever. She would adapt. Murph never did like strangers. Not like Kelly, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying being taught how to play soccer by what looked like the entirety of his class and probably some of the others, too. Gabe and the triplets were trying to get in on it, though they were a little small, and Melody was on the swings with Ruby and a crowd of their own classmates. Jem was perched in the tree above them, nose in a book.

Hunter was faring pretty well herself, laughing and chatting with Winnie and a couple other girls while Tristan and Zion occasionally buzzed through to torment them all, tugging pigtails and teasing mercilessly.

If Merry and Frankie and Ethan would just come outside already, then Jan would finally have some people around his own age to talk to. Stupid smarties had to stay after class to discuss the book they were reading with the teacher. God, sometimes he couldn't even believe he was related to such overachieving brainiacs.

Well, anyways, no big deal. Jan had a nice spot in the shade, a comfortable tree trunk to lean against, and some kind of almond pastry left in his lunch bag to look forward to. Yum.

And then three of the prettiest girls from his class suddenly surrounded him.

"Hi, Jan," the first one said, smiling brightly and tucking her messy black hair behind her vaguely elfin ears as she sat, "I'm Lysa Nejem. This is Rachel Giroux-" a tall, willowy brunette with dark, mesmerizing eyes, "and this is Phaedra Thatcher-" a petite blonde who winked, waved with a wiggle of her fine-boned fingers.

Jan choked on the mouthful of sandwich he hadn't been quite through with, coughing a bit before finally managing to answer, "Um, hi. I, uh, it's nice to meet you all."

"And what's your name, _bao-bei_?" Lysa cooed to Murphy, petting the girl's choppy pink-blonde curls.

Murphy whined shrilly and buried herself further against Jan's side.

Jan tried to soothe her with a hand on her frail back, explaining, "This is Murphy. She's just a little shy."

"Oh, poor thing," Rachel soothed softly, crossing her long legs in a truly distracting manner, modest denim skirt riding up her slim thighs and unnaturally long hair spilling over her delicate shoulders, "You don't have to be scared around here, honey. Everybody's real nice."

"Go away," Murphy ordered, grip tightening around Jan's middle.

Chuckling fondly, Jan declared, "She's definitely not in the mood to make friends right now."

Smirking, Phaedra touched his arm and laughed, "Well, we sure hope you are..."

xxXxx

Turned out that the AWOL waitress had actually gone into labor, so yet again she as well as her husband (the cook) and her two sisters (the bartender and another waitress) did not show up to work at the Chariot.

Auntie Hannah had been halfway to a nervous breakdown when Sal and the others stopped in that morning. She'd gushed happily over all of them before promptly enlisting them to fill in. Billy and Dana were in back manning the kitchen while Retta and Ace flitted around the scrubbed wood tables delivering food and drinks.

Sal got off easy; all he had to do was stand behind the bar and serve up the beer and liquor, which, since it was so early, were ordered sparsely by a handful professional drunks. They were mostly good guys either way, entertaining to chat with as the hours ticked by.

The Chariot was hardly the only restaurant or bar on world; it was a decent-sized planet with few larger settlements scattered throughout the smaller clusters of farm houses and ranches and mines and wide open spaces. But still, Auntie Hannah's place seemed to be a favorite. Hardly a moment ever went by when the large wooden hall wasn't at least half filled with boisterous regulars, and the daytime crowds didn't have anything on the ones that came through at night (though apparently the place was usually only open late on weekends and holidays).

Shortly before the expected lunch rush, Sal spotted his father entering through the front door. The tall man was quickly joined by his tiny wife and her brother.

Sal waved them over, poured two shots of whiskey for Jayne and Simon and was just realizing that he didn't know what Miss River drank when they arrived at the counter.

"What'll you have, Miss River?" Sal asked, slinging a damp bar rag over his shoulder and sparing his sweet stepmother a fond smile.

She didn't answer, wide-eyed and seemingly mesmerized by watching the other patrons eat and talk and laugh.

Jayne kept his arm firmly around her slight shoulders but seemed otherwise unworried by her distractedness. "Hannah sure did put ya'll to work," he chuckled, throwing back his shot with practiced ease.

Sipping almost daintily at his own serving, Simon added, "Are you kids going to be here the rest of the day? I was thinking about checking out the clinic if Ace can be spared."

Even though the thought of medical professionals and all their various instruments of torture made the young man shiver and tug gloomily at the allergy bracelet welded snug to his wrist, Sal valiantly replied, "We could probably get along without her as long as Mouse stays in the kitchen."

With a gruff laugh, Jayne observed, "Good thing he's got all those ass-kickin and gun-fightin skills to fall back on."

"Jaynie!" Auntie Hannah beamed, bouncing over and treating him, his wife, and his brother-in-law to enthusiastic hugs. "Ya'll want somethin to eat?" she offered brightly, turning to smile at Sal, "I finally got in touch with my other regular shift, and they're all comin soon, so you kids are off the hook. Thanks _so_ much for fillin in! Have whatever you want for lunch, and make sure to take your pay outta the register 'fore you leave."

"Thanks," Sal answered, "But, uh, you don't have to. We were just happy to help."

Laughing and shaking her head, the plump, petite woman argued, "Nonsense, sweetheart! You did honest work, you get honest pay." She patted him lovingly on the cheek and added, "Your brother tried to pull the same thing last night, but I thought that was just cuz he was embarrassed about fumblin all those dishes."

"Hey, can I get some service down here?" a voice interrupted rather rudely.

Since it was Sal's job at the moment, he quickly excused himself and went to provide said service. He wasn't missed too much, Auntie Hannah continuing to chatter away to the other adults as she led them to a free table.

The man who'd called Sal over looked younger than he probably was, with a smooth, heavy jaw, rich, wavy blonde hair, and dark, inexplicably angry eyes. He wore a crisp white collared shirt and a thick gold chain around his slender throat. He glared until Sal got close, then seemed to realize that Sal was almost twice his height and at least twice his bulk and cut that out real quick.

Being a freakish pituitary case certainly had its upside.

"What can I get you?" Sal asked flatly, leaning forward onto his fists in a way he damn well knew accentuated the more gorilla-like elements of his impressive physique.

The young man actually flinched back a bit, flapping his mouth open and closed a few times before hurriedly grumbling, "Uh... nothin. Never mind." He retreated quickly and was soon nothing but a speck in the crowd.

"Weird," Sal commented, wandering toward another customer on the opposite end of the bar.

A few moments later, Billy leaned over the dark wood counter as Sal was pouring a pint. His cousin frowned and asked, "That guy you were just talkin with, he give you any trouble?"

Sal laughed and shook his head, answering, "No. Probably wanted to, but he thought better of it once he got a good look at me."

With a somewhat cruel smirk, Billy chuckled, "Ruttin coward."

Sliding the pint to its new owner, Sal inquired, "Who is he?"

"That was Gideon," Billy said, "Gideon Giroux. He's the _hun-dan_ Dana beat on that first day."

Kind of amused but mostly disgusted, Sal mused, "So, what? He hears Mouse's little brother is working the bar today and decides to come on over and take a shot at me to get back at him?"

Snorting, Billy confirmed, "That'd be my guess. He's a nasty bastard, and he surely ain't above thrashin a man's kin for no reason but shared blood."

Sal wished Gideon hadn't been so quick to retreat. "Me and Mouse have to leave as soon as the other shift gets here," the teen decided, "Ace, too, maybe. But at least me and him have to be outside the school to get the little kids."

"No problem," Billy agreed, rapping his first sharply on the counter, "I'll let everybody know, and then I'll head home and come back with my hovercraft. Get us there in a jiff."

"Thanks," Sal murmured, watching the older boy go. Distractedly wiping down the bar, he grumbled, "Rutting coward..."

xxXxx

Merry made a new friend. Well, they all made a lot of new friends, but Merry was especially enamored with Isaiah, and Isaiah seemed especially enamored with him. They'd been seated next to each other in class and had hit it off almost immediately, talked and laughed and spent a good chunk of lunch arguing over symbolism in the novel they were reading. Isaiah was smart and sweet and really cute, with longish, wavy blonde hair and big dark eyes.

And when Aunt Alma let their class go early, he asked if Merry wanted to go into town with him for ice planets.

Frankie told her twin to have fun and watched fondly as the two boys wandered off down the road, already back to their heated literature discussion but shoulders almost touching and smiles wide.

"_We have a half hour before the little kids are out_," Ethan signed, leaning beside Jan in the shade of the building and effortlessly dwarfing the wiry teen with his dark bulk, "_What should we do?_"

He apparently hadn't noticed that, although most of the rest of their class had romped off as soon as the doors opened, one girl was still hanging around the school yard, pretending to read a book but really just staring at him over the top of it.

Frankie thought that her name was Rachel. They hadn't been introduced, but she'd seen the girl talking to Jan during lunch, had heard Aunt Alma address her during the lessons. She was pretty, tall and willowy with wavy, light brown hair that shimmered in the sun and looked like it had never been cut. Dark, thick-lashed eyes and a soft, shy smile.

"Jan," Frankie prompted, knowing that Ethan could read her lips, "You want to introduce me to your friend?"

Jan finally noticed the girl as well (kid was letting his training slip already and definitely needed a lecture about watching his surroundings) and waved to her hesitantly.

That was all the invitation she needed. "Hi," she said as she approached, signing and gazing adoringly up at Ethan, "I'm Rachel."

"Nice to meet you," Frankie said, "I'm Frankie. You already know Jan and Ethan, right?"

"Ya," the girl replied with a dreamy sigh.

Ethan squirmed a bit under the attention, gaze on his feet as he signed, "_Hi, Rachel. How're you?_"

"I'm good," she said, graceful hands echoing. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and batted her long eyelashes before adding, "Your mama was really sweet to let us go early. It's such a nice day today. You guys got plans?"

Grinning impishly as he caught on, Jan announced, "We were actually trying to think of something to do until the little kids get out. Any ideas?"

Rachel blushed at Ethan before timidly answering, "Well, I was probably just gonna hang around here for awhile and then walk to the library."

"Ethan," Jan chirped, elbowing his big cousin, "Don't you work at the library?"

"_You know I do_," Ethan signed. He shot Jan an impatient what-the-hell, shut-your-gorram-mouth look and then went back to mostly staring at his feet.

"We're both there a lot," Rachel timidly observed, "Besides Mr. Proudfoot, I think Ethan and me are there more than anybody."

Smiling, Frankie declared, "It is a really nice place. Ethan gave us a tour the other day." Thinking back, the young woman added, "I think you were there, right? I mean, I guess you were reading, but I think I remember seeing you." A curtain of hair and a tangle of long legs nestled into a pile of squashy pillows in a sunny corner.

"Probably," Rachel laughed, plain peasant shirt slipping down one slender shoulder as her slim hands continued to flutter nervously, "Mr. Proudfoot got some new books this weekend, so I was readin those. They were real good. You get a chance to look at em yet, Ethan?"

The roar of an engine halted the conversation, an orange dust plume appearing around a far-off bend in the long dirt track that led to the school. As the craft got closer, its driver got easier to make out: a young man with wavy blonde hair and a cowboy hat; no one Frankie recognized.

But Rachel seemed to, backing anxiously away from their group and then running toward the road, waiting there meekly with her head down.

The craft finally arrived and stopped with a splash of dust that hit Rachel full on. She didn't even flinch, not even when the driver leapt out and grabbed her roughly by the arm.

"Fraternizin with the retard again?" the man hissed, adding a vicious yank to punctuate the question, "Still so desperate to pop out his little mutant babies?"

"Hey!" Jan bellowed, "What's the hell is your gorram problem?"

Rachel gave them a pleading look, frantically shaking her head. The grip on her arm looked painful, looked like it would leave a deep bruise.

The man didn't seem to notice, shoving her toward the craft with a curt, "Get in." Then he stomped straight toward Jan.

He was bigger than Jan and did his best to make it obvious, puffing out his solid chest and smooth, heavy jaw as he loomed menacingly. "You got somethin to say to me, boy?" the man challenged gruffly.

"Ya," Jan replied, not even a little bit intimidated, "Don't talk about my cousin like that. And maybe try not to beat up on girls, _zheng qi de gou-shi dui_."

"I'll do whatever the hell I want," the man sneered, "And that includes bustin you in that smart mouth!" He took a swing.

Jan easily ducked the blow, laughing and ducking another two quick, sloppy jabs.

Even though she knew that Jan was more than capable of handling himself (hell, Murphy could probably thrash the man without breaking a sweat), Frankie chose that moment to get involved. She calmly pushed Jan to the side and stepped into his place, gave the attacker a few moments to get over his confusion and focus on his new opponent.

Mouse wouldn't be happy, she thought as she smashed her fist into the man's nose and then artfully chucked him across the yard. They weren't supposed to get in fights, and especially not on their first day at school.

Oh well.

The man lay in the dirt for a few moments, groaning and then climbing clumsily back to his feet, gushing blood down his chin. He snarled and charged at Frankie.

Frankie jumped and spun and kicked him solidly in the side of the head.

The man went down again and stayed there.

Pouting, Jan complained, "I didn't need any help."

"I know," Frankie soothed, spotting another dust cloud barreling down the road, "But you were taking too long. You're not supposed to have fun in a real fight, Jan. You're supposed to neutralize your enemy as quickly as possible."

The teen rolled his eyes. "It's not like he was an actual threat," Jan whined, "And everybody's always nagging me to practice."

"Not on random jerks," Frankie scolded. She smoothed down her brown hair, and by the time she was done, the other craft had pulled up and stopped, Mouse and Sally and Ace and Billy and Retta and even Merry piling out and running toward them.

Frankie sighed, instructed Jan and Ethan to check on Rachel, and then prepared herself to be in trouble.

xxXxx

Even hours later, sitting once again around Gramma's outdoor fire pit with the whole family and eating a hearty dinner of chili and biscuits and chopped fruit, Billy didn't seem like he was ever going to stop laughing.

"I am _so_ sorry I missed it," he cackled helplessly, "But, I swear, just the mental images I got goin on are gonna keep me happy for _years_!"

Frankie smiled sweetly at him, probably still just happy to not be in trouble. Though Dana wasn't sure why she thought she would be; it wasn't like she started the fight, and his instruction to avoid them if at all possible certainly didn't preclude self-defense. Besides, the whole incident was entirely Gideon's fault (slightly exacerbated by Jan's smart mouth, but Dana couldn't bring himself to blame the teen for that).

"Those Girouxs," Jayne grumbled, "Buncha uppity bastards. Even me 'n Will used to have problems with their pa when we were all in school together. I ain't surprised Joe ended up as some crackpot religious nut spewin hellfire and damnation every Sunday... No offense, Nigel."

Uncle Nigel smirked into his meal and replied, "None taken. I like to believe myself an entirely different breed of preacher than Joseph Giroux."

"Amen," Aunt Tess hummed, resting her head on her husband's bony shoulder.

"Isaiah's nice," Merry defended around a half-chewed mouthful. After receiving a warning glance from Gramma, he swallowed and added, "He doesn't like his brother anymore than anyone else does. He's scared of him. We had to hide in the bushes when he drove past."

"Rachel's sweet, too," Frankie agreed, "Really quiet and smart. And she's terrified of Gideon. You should've seen how he was treating her. I didn't think people actually did that to their own families." Her dark eyes were dewy and wide, halfway devastated over just the fact that someone else had been mistreated.

Uncle Matty put his arm around her slight form and gave a comforting squeeze. "Don't get too sad, _bao-bei_," he soothed, "Gideon and his dad wouldn't dare to hurt those kids for real. They're mean, but they ain't stupid. They know it'd be the last thing they ever did."

"Gorram straight," Aunt Tess staunchly agreed, "Got no room on this rock for child abusers."

The crackling fire and chirping crickets were the only noise for a long few moments. Spoons scraping on bowls.

Finally, Gramma's wrinkled face brightened considerably, and the old woman suggested, "Jaynie, how bout you grab your guitar? I ain't heard you play at all since you been back."

"YA!" Auntie Hannah joyously agreed, "That would be so shiny! Please?"

It was impossible to miss the way Jan perked up. Even Murphy, who had been pouty and listless all evening, seemed hesitantly intrigued.

With his usual expressionless calm, Uncle William asked, "You still makin a lotta racket on that thing?"

Wash snorted and almost spilled lemonade in his lap.

"When the mood strikes," Jayne said with a smirk, already setting down his empty bowl, standing and brushing off his jeans, "Or apparently when Mama and Hannah Lynn ask real pretty. I'll be back in a sec, y'all."

Conversation around the fire pit picked up again, on to lighter subjects. Dana listened absently, enjoying himself but worrying about Gideon, about the Alliance and a hundred other things.

The noise was faint but Dana heard it; from the way they all tensed up, his brothers and sisters did, too: there was a commotion by the house, scuffling and then a grunt and then muffled speech. Two voices, only one of which was familiar.

They disappeared almost instantly from the fireside, stalked quickly and quietly through the dark, moving in formation with Dana at point.

Jayne was on his stomach at the bottom of the porch steps, growling something unintelligible at the slim figure pinning his arms behind his back.

Dana directed his troops with a few hand gestures, watching as they moved swiftly to surround the intruder.

They moved in as a unit, Dana and Sally dragging the intruder—a tallish woman with long, unnaturally blonde hair—off their father. It was quick and painless, simple, no need for the guns to even be drawn. The others saw to Jayne as Dana and Sally secured the captive, one of Sally's huge paws over her mouth while Dana tied her wrists together and then to the porch railing.

Only when she was properly contained and the immediate area deemed clear did they begin their interrogation. "Who are you?" Dana demanded, "Who sent you? Are you alone? Are you Alliance?"

The woman seemed a bit stunned, a bit overwhelmed at having gone from attacker to prisoner so fast, staring up at Dana with wide, completely bewildered blue eyes as her mouth hung open. Eventually, she laughed anyways, shrunken, weathered face all in shadows and shrewd gaze wildly scanning the crowd of angry children who had appeared like ghosts, the relatives running to catch up. "Ask _him_," she spat, nodding toward Jayne.

The big man was on his feet again, rubbing his bruised jaw. He blinked at the captive and frowned. "Boys," he grumbled, "Let her go! Just..."

"Who is she?" Dana demanded, growing frustrated by the whole situation and his father in particular.

Jayne scrubbed nervously at his beard, sent a guilty glance toward his stoic, somehow knowing wife and explained, "She's... her name's Allegra Little-Moon."

With a bitter cackle, a crooked quirk of her thin lips, the woman stared straight at Dana and declared, "I _was_ his fiancé."

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations -

swai - cute

go-se - crap

bao-bei - sweetheart

hun-dan - bastard

zheng qi de gou-shi dui - steaming crap pile

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes -

Medusa - In Greek Mythology, a monster with snakes for hair. Looking directly at her face would turn people to stone.

I know I slipped her in at the end there, but keep your eye on Allegra, mwahaha. More hopefully soon, and reviews are still oodles of love ;)


	15. Part 15: Revelations, Suspicions, Secret

Part 15 – Revelations, Suspicions, Secrets, and Lies

Allegra Little-Moon was a pilot, a damn good one if Cassandra Damato was to be believed.

"Legs is gonna take care 'a you, kid," Cas said, mostly looking down at her clipboard but still somehow paying quite a lot of attention to Dana as well, "Been doin it since she was younger than you are, and she's the best. She usually don't take on rookies, let alone let 'em fly her ship, so you count your stars, ya?"

Dana nodded and chirped, "Yes, ma'am." He was, however, internally lamenting the fact that he couldn't manage to make a good impression with his captains to save his life. First he curses out Mal, then he practically hogties Allegra, apparently Jayne's former fiancé, the one who his father left without even saying goodbye to when he decided to see the verse.

It was going to be an interesting weekend.

"Legs!" Cas bellowed down the small hallway that led to the cockpit of the _Mowgli_, a 01-K33 Rabbit class low-bulk transport vessel, "You decent?"

"How long you gonna hold that against me, Damato?" a throaty, teasing voice echoed back.

With a high laugh, Cas scratched at her spiky black hair and chuckled, "She's all yours, kid. Good luck." The muscular woman left him there, turning sharply on her heel and chuckling as she continued about her duties as manager of the small dock.

Dana proceeded to stow his rucksack and to take the pilot seat with deep trepidation.

"So," Allegra snickered in lieu of a greeting, her long legs crossed and booted feet kicked up onto the console, "I hear the boxin league is after you like boy monkeys after girl monkeys."

Feeling himself blush, Dana tried to concentrate on the pre-flight checks and curtly responded, "Well, they're also after my brother Sally and my sister Frankie, so I try not to feel too special. Ma'am. The prerequisite seems to be being tougher than Gideon Giroux, and that isn't very hard."

He could barely even look the woman straight in her weathered face. She was the same age as Jayne but seemed much older. Once upon a time, she had probably been pretty, but currently her features were pale and bony and sunken, almost ghoulish. Her blue eyes cold and menacing.

Tossing her long, peroxide blonde hair back with laughter, Allegra answered, "Right on, sparky. Just be sure to let me know if you do join. I got a feelin I could make some serious bank off 'a you."

"Yes, ma'am," said Dana, feeling pale eyes boring into him relentlessly. It was really eerie, how she always seemed to just _stare_ at him. Like he was the most fascinating thing in the verse.

Allegra chuckled, shook her head, and instructed, "Take her up, rook. Let's see what you got."

xxXxx

"This has been one _weird_ vacation," Mal observed, cuddling his sleeping daughter against his chest.

"You're tellin me," Jayne agreed grumpily, bouncing Sadie on his knee, "I never thought I'd run into Legs. Hannah Lynn told me she took off not long after I left."

"Been back for a few years," declared Matty, "No one's real sure what she did in the meantime, but she just turned up at Uncle Nik and Uncle Avi's place one day, skinny as a stick and her hair dyed that weird color. She helps 'em take care 'a the kids now, and flies some crop-hops for Cas. But nobody sees her much 'sides that."

Jayne grumbled, "Ya, well, a little warnin woulda been nice."

River'd barely said two words to him all week. For a woman who'd seen the confrontation coming, she was pretty sore about it.

Laughing mercilessly, Matty replied, "Nobody made you leave her behind. Hell, if I remember correctly, everybody was pretty set on you marryin the girl."

"Everybody but me," Jayne muttered.

"BOYS!" Jayne's ma called out the back door, "Lunch is ready!"

"Comin, Ma!" Matty replied, abandoning the saddle he'd been mending and scooping his little daughter off his brother's lap. "You ready for lunch, baby?" the man laughed brightly as he swung the black-haired toddler through the air.

For his troubles, he got a rare laugh out of the cranky child. Well, Matty claimed that she was actually very sweet but just didn't like new people, that she would go back to being her happy, giggly self in no time. Apparently, a little over a week wasn't quite long enough for her to get used to the _Serenity_ crew.

Mal sure hoped she'd get over it soon. The girl had an awfully intimidating glare for such a small person. Kind of reminded him of little Murphy... Huh. Maybe it was a Cobb thing...

The three men arrived in the kitchen at the same moment that Tess was dipping her finger into the soup and inquiring, "What're all the kids doin today?" She popped a dollop of the creamy concoction into her mouth, moaning happily and chasing a stray drop all the way down to her first knuckle.

Tess was nearly forty but still very attractive (tall and curvy and pretty), and the gesture was _highly_ distracting. Especially when the woman noticed Mal's staring and winked slyly.

Gorram. The whole family was absolutely nuts.

"Cas said that Dana could start at the docks," Sam Cobb explained, swatting her daughter away from the pot, "He'll be gone on a weekend crop-hop. Billy drove him down there this mornin, and then I think he and Retta were gonna show Sally and Ace some more 'a the planet, introduce 'em around. Dana said they could go out tonight, if they behaved."

"Mmm," Tess replied, "Fun. Jayne's crew?"

"Bathhouse with Hannah Lynn," Jayne answered, "Gettin mud soaks and massages and such. Except Wash and the doc. I think they were gonna swing by William's for some parts and then go check out the clinic. They said they might drop in on Nigel, too."

"Shiny," Tess declared, helping her mother dole soup and sandwiches onto the neatly set table.

The small group got seated and then joined hands. Mal had come to expect the Cobbs' habit of praying before every meal, but that didn't mean he was any less uncomfortable with it. He just... wasn't the praying type. He had been, once upon a time, but not in a long while. Still, he was thankful for his life and everyone in it so, like he'd done every other instance, just took the moment to think on that.

Lunch was leisurely and downright pleasant, with Jayne's mother and siblings teasing him throughout, all of them reminiscing fondly on their childhood.

Tess got a call at the end of the long meal and had to bolt back to her sheriffing duties, so old Mrs. Cobb put the menfolk to work with the cleanup while she spent some time with the two baby girls. Even though Adhara wasn't blood, Sam adored her and had already knitted her a big soft blanket.

Mal remembered his own mother, wishing she'd lived to meet her granddaughter.

Anyways. There was some light work to do tending to the horses and cattle and crops, and by the time that was nearly through, the kids were arriving home from school.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Melody babbled as she rushed ahead of the impressive herd. Waving a big sheet of paper like a streamer, she jumped into her father's arms and declared, "I painted you a picture, and my teacher said it was so great! And, look! She gave me a sticker for doing such a good job! It's a gold star! See!"

"That's amazing," Jayne told her, kissing the little girl's smiling cheeks, "You're a' artist just like your mama."

"Hunter!" Frankie hollered, the redhead halfway to disappearing across the lawn with Tristan, Zion, and Winnie, "You know Mouse said no going out until your homework is done!"

Turning back to huff and roll her eyes, Hunter answered, "I finished it in class. C'mon, Frankie. We're just going to the quarry and then Uncle William's shop. Don't be so bossy."

"Don't be a brat," Merry instructed, swinging an elated Ruby around by her ankles, "I have plans, too, but you don't see me sneaking away before I'm allowed."

"Ya, well, you don't see me blowing off dinner to hang out with my _boyfriend_," Hunter argued smugly.

So that explained the kid's absence at the table the night before... Huh.

Blushing but smirking goofily, Merry responded, "He's not my boyfriend."

With a triplet clinging to his back and both ankles, Jan playfully coughed, "_Yet_."

Bouncing in circles as the procession continued along down the drive, Kelly sang, "Merry likes Isaiah! Merry likes Isaiah!" He seized Colt by the wrist and dragged the startled girl with him, still chiming, "Merry likes Isaiah! Merry likes Isaiah!"

"Zip it, runt," Merry laughed, completely mindless of the stunned look on his father's face. "Hey, Dad," he said with a bright wave, "Captain. Uncle Matty. We were going to make a snack for the little kids. You want anything?"

"Uh..." Jayne gaped, "Nah, I think we're alright... Thanks."

"Ok," Merry agreed, getting a startled squeal out of Ruby as he tossed her to Ethan, "Let's go, guys. Apples or cucumbers?"

"Huh," Jayne declared not too long after the kids bickered their way into the house, "How bout that." He scratched his head quizzically.

Smirking, Matty just shrugged and shimmied up one of the many trees that bordered the lane.

xxXxx

Ace had almost completely forgotten how much of an insufferable horndog her older brother was. No matter where they went, Sally always ended up pairing off with a hot girl. Or, in the latest case, two: Inga and Ilsa Lupo, tall, skinny, blonde twins. According to Retta, they were the miller's daughters, identical in everything, including their taste in men. And rather than let any such men come between them, the sisters liked to... well, you get the idea...

Rolling her eyes, Ace tore her gaze away from the establishment's bar and sipped at her sweet cider. The crowd was decidedly younger than what usually frequented Auntie Hannah's place; the nameless bar (usually just called the Bar) was almost on the opposite side of the planet and known as a hangout for the sixteen-to-twenty-five set. The loud music and bright lights and bright colors and teeming dance floor were certainly more energetic than the simple, rustic décor of the Chariot.

At first, Ace had been a little uncomfortable, especially after the others left her alone, Sally wandering off with the double-slut twins, and Retta getting distracted by her boyfriend, Shen, and Billy dancing wildly on a table with his friend Petra...

But then Ace found a poker game.

"Call," the young man across from her declared, keeping a skeptical eye on his opponent as he tossed the last of his cash into the pot. His name was Oren Valenti, and he was a good few years older than she was, probably in his early twenties, handsome and apparently core-born. A surgeon, the twin brother of Kelly's teacher. And at the beginning of the game, he'd been unbearably cocky, teasing that Ace maybe wanted to think twice about sitting down with _real_ players.

But that was then. The fact that Ace had all the rest of his money stacked neatly at her elbow had clearly made him rethink his position. Oren hadn't opened his big mouth unnecessarily in the last dozen hands.

"Flush," Ace said with a smirk, already knowing she'd won as she laid down her cards.

Oren swore colorfully and slammed his losing hand down on the round table. Pretty-boy face flushing angrily, he glared and demanded, "Who the hell taught you to play cards, little girl?"

"Natural talent," Ace chuckled over the raucous music and conversation, winking brightly as she swept away her winnings. Addressing all four men at the table, she declared "Well, seeing as how you're all out of coin, I think we should probably call it a night. Nice meeting you, gentlemen. Let's do this again some time."

Three of the men took the loss relatively gracefully, laughing it off, offering to buy her drinks, asking if she wanted to dance. Ace politely refused; she'd promised Mouse that she'd stay away from the hard stuff, and Sally was likely to pitch a fit if he saw her doing anything with a guy but beating him soundly at cards. The hypocrite.

Anyways, three out of four were nice and left the dim back corner without incident. Oren Valenti was a different story. Of course, he seemed to have a little gambling problem and had lost almost twice as much as all of the rest of them combined.

"Beginner's luck," he accused tersely, not moving from his spot. He folded his arms across his solid chest and glared. Though he was way too baby-faced to be intimidating and the expression came across more as a petulant, childish pout.

"Maybe," Ace replied, brightly counting her stack of bills, "If I hadn't been playing since before I could walk."

Oren frowned, a kind of cute dimple appearing between his dark eyebrows, almost obscured by the messy fringe hanging across his forehead. "I should've gotten some gorram warning if Cobb was going to bring a shark in here," he complained.

Standing to leave, Ace grinned smugly and declared, "Consider yourself warned."

Billy found her and made her dance (thankfully not on a table). Even though dancing was really more the twins' thing, Ace found that she didn't dislike it nearly as much when her pockets were weighed down with a fat take.

xxXxx

"MURPH!" Jan bellowed, "MURPHY! C'mon! It's time for dinner!"

The little blonde had disappeared into the orchard for hours every night that week, always making Mouse find her before she'd even think of interacting with the rest of the family, and even then she'd been listless and grouchy. Since all the older kids from Mouse to Frankie were out, the job that particular night fell to Jan. Hunter, too, but she was screwing around with the cousins rather than (as she put it) pandering to Murphy's bad habits. Psycho ginger was probably just sneaking away to set something on fire.

"_MURPHY JEAN_!" Jan tried again, scanning the dim canopy. With the sun almost down and the valley in deep shadow, he could barely see anything. But, fortunately, the teen was well-trained and tracked his little sister without incident for a quarter mile before her footsteps disappeared. Mouse had mentioned that she liked to hide up high.

A flash of movement had Jan quickly scaling a cherry tree. After a bit of climbing, he was rewarded with the sight of Murph clinging to the trunk. She frowned at him peevishly.

The little hellcat had been in quite the mood ever since they'd started school and refused to tell anyone what it was about.

"Jeez, Murph," Jan puffed, flopping down next to her and staring cautiously at the long drop, "Didn't Mouse tell you to stay under ten meters? You're going to break your neck if you fall from up here."

Murphy continued to pout, picking at the bark. "Not gonna fall," she insisted softly.

Jan sighed and put an arm around her slight shoulders, squeezing and teasing, "Since when are you immune from gravity, little one?"

"Go away," she grumbled, hugging the tree, "I'm not coming down! You can't make me!"

"I disagree," Jan said with a poorly hidden smirk, "But we can get to that later. For now, how about spilling what's got you so upset lately?"

Still refusing to make eye contact or to let go of the trunk, Murphy muttered, "Nothing. Leave me alone."

"C'mon, Murph," Jan wheedled, tickling her side, "How am I ever going to make you feel better if I don't know what's wrong?" At a hint of a reluctant smile, he continued, "Is it boy trouble? I promise not to tell Sally."

"_No_," the girl answered with a huffy eye roll. She sulked for a few more moments before finally admitting, "I hate school."

"I don't think you're supposed to enjoy it," Jan said with a shrug, "Like P.T. You go because you have to, and it's hard, and it sucks, but it's not all bad. Maybe you'll have more fun if you start hanging out with someone aside from me during lunch. Making friends, you know?"

Huffing, Murphy argued, "I like P.T.! I'd much rather do P.T. instead! The kids in my class are dumb! And my teacher is mean! Really, _really _mean! And Mouse promised that if I didn't like school, then I wouldn't have to go anymore, and I was going to tell him this morning, but he was too busy, and then he left, and he said he won't be back the whole weekend, maybe even until Monday, so I'll end up having to go anyways, and that's not fair cuz Mouse _promised_!"

Though the tirade gushed out a bit fast, Jan got the general idea. Ruffling his sister's curly pink-blonde curls, the teen playfully commented, "I'm sure it's not that bad. What's going on that you don't like?"

Sniffling, Murphy replied, "My teacher yells at me all the time... and she said... she said I was stupid."

"Screw that bitch!" Jan declared, instantly incensed, "I'll burn her gorram house down!"

Murphy giggled and finally quit strangling the tree.

xxXxx

"SAM!"

Jayne looked up from his guitar, startled by having his uncle Avi crash out of the brush. The man was old but no less athletic, preferring to run everywhere and accordingly showing up abruptly no matter where he went. Especially so early on a lazy Saturday. "Avi!" Jayne crowed, jumping up to give his father's best friend and his own childhood idol an appropriate hug, "Where you been? I been lookin out for you all week!"

"Sorry, Jay," the old man huffed, fine blonde hair long since gone silver. He pulled back from the hug at the first available opportunity, wide eyes scanning wildly as he hurriedly explained, "I meant to come by earlier, but I just been... uh... distracted. Your mama around? I gotta talk to her."

Put off by the lack of enthusiasm for their long overdue reunion, Jayne replied, "Er... she's pro'ly in the kitchen."

"Thanks," Avi chirped, dashing inside without another word.

Jayne sat back down with his guitar, keen ears perked for what they could possibly be talking about that was so urgent. But all he could make out was muted nonsense.

xxXxx

"Please tell me that boy ain't on the ship with Legs," Avi pleaded as he appeared suddenly in the kitchen doorway, "The oldest one. The one I saw waitin tables last week at Hannah's place."

Arching a slim eyebrow at the old man, Sam pulled a tray of muffins out of the oven and replied, "Good mornin to you, too, Mr. Little. Stay for breakfast?"

"Sam," he snapped (and Avi never snapped; he was a teddy bear), "Just tell me."

Sam fixed him with a quizzical, rather annoyed stare, gnarled hands fisting at her slim hips. "You talkin about Dana?" she asked, "Ya, he's on the crop-hop with Allegra. They ain't due back 'til tomorrow at the earliest. Why? What's goin on?"

Avi groaned miserably, tugging hard at his silvery hair and looking to be sending a prayer up heavenward. He said, "I... I can't tell you, Sam. I don't know if it's even for sure. Let me just be sure."

"For the _last time_, Jan, we are _not_ burning the woman's house down!"

"Why not? We can make it look like an accident! Just a few well-placed incendiaries, and _BAM_, no more bitch!"

With an eye roll, Sam turned her gaze to the doorway just in time for Frankie and Jan to step in from the living room. "Language, baby," she scolded her wiry, wily teenage grandson, "And say hello to Uncle Avi. He was one 'a yer grandaddy's very best friends."

Frankie smiled politely and shook the man's hand, brightly chirping, "Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Frankie, and this is Jan."

"Hi," Jan grumbled, not paying the new face very much mind before he went back to badgering his sister. "She called Murph _stupid_!" the teen cried, "We _have _to retaliate!"

"No, we don't," Frankie argued pointedly, kissing her grandmother on the cheek when the woman handed her a fresh muffin, "At least not right away. I'm mad, too, Jan. But our first step has to be talking to Aunt Alma. I'm sure she'll set Ms. Arkwright straight."

Ignoring the freshly baked treats (which was downright unheard of for the boy), Jan continued to scheme and complain as he followed his sister out into the sunny morning.

Seeming slightly bewildered by all the talk of arson and vengeance, Avi muttered, "Uh... they seem... real nice. You must be proud."

Sam smirked over her shoulder, declaring, "I surely am."

xxXxx

"Not bad at all, kid," Allegra declared as Dana performed yet another flawless takeoff in the _Mowgli_, "At this rate, we'll be back on world way ahead of schedule."

"Thank you, ma'am," Dana replied, concentrating on the next drop they had to make, all the way on Beryl. It had been an... interesting day.

The flying was _amazing_, no question. Dana hadn't realized how good he'd gotten under Wash's capable tutelage. The _Mowgli_ was smaller than _Serenity_, designed for much shorter journeys, so handling her was a dream. And she was so fast and so fun.

However, flying with Allegra... well, that was just strange. There was something about the woman that irked Dana, made him intensely uncomfortable whether she was just quietly painting her toenails on the dash or trying to wheedle every detail of his life out of him. She really did seem relatively nice, if a bit weird and nosy, but still... Dana couldn't quite put his finger on it...

Chuckling and rolling her eyes, the woman scolded, "Quit callin me _ma'am_, sparky. I ain't that old. And I certainly ain't no drill sergeant, neither." She was amusing herself by plaiting the ends of her unnaturally blonde hair.

Even though he knew he shouldn't, Dana asked, "What should I call you?" He kept one eye on his vector and another on the navigation screen, not wanting to wander off course while he was talking.

Looking up with a suddenly somber expression, she fixed him with her pale, feral stare and softly replied, "I'll let ya figure that out for yourself."

Seriously. _Weird_.

"_Sooo_," she began plainly, voice rough and gravelly (echoing a lifetime of smoke and liquor and who knew what else), "Couple more smooth test runs like this one, and Cas'll pro'ly bring you on as a solo pilot. She's got a couple ships, but you'll do much better to get your own. Ain't nothin in the verse like havin your own ship."

Nodding, trying not to smile too broadly, Dana stated, "My uncle William said I was welcome to any craft in his salvage yard, if I could get it running. And my sister Hunter is kind of a genius with that kind of stuff."

"Sweet deal," Allegra chirped. After a moment's pause, she mused, "It's nice that you got all those brothers and sisters. My dads adopted me and a bunch 'a kids, and I always had a lotta fun runnin around with all of 'em. Still do, since they still ain't stoppin."

Encouraged by having the subject move off his own personal life, Dana guided the craft out of atmo and questioned, "How many do you have? Siblings, I mean."

Allegra laughed and listed, "Nine of us, all together, but I really only grew up with Roger, Kristof, and Marjani. Lola got adopted the year I left home, and by the time I got back, there was Tariq and Geraldine, and Oliver and Clara have come along the last couple years. Anyways, I'm still the oldest, so I look after everybody."

"Ya, me, too," Dana agreed. Allegra was still weird, but at least they had that in common. That, and big, eclectic families.

The craft gave a sudden shake, and Dana had a small moment of panic, his knuckles going white around the yolk.

Allegra didn't even flinch. "Space junk," she noted breezily, "It scraped along the starboard side and hit the thruster. Nothin to worry about. You just gotta listen to your ship. If it had been more of a growly, tremblin sound, that spells problems."

"Yes, ma'am," Dana replied without thinking.

The woman just shook her head and sighed.

xxXxx

Building explosives from scrap was difficult but not impossible: it was all about scrounging the proper components.

Uncle William's junkyard certainly had no shortage of rusted-out crafts or stray parts, but all the nuclear cells—the really _fun_ bits—were hard to come by. In fact, Uncle William seemed pretty diligent in stripping those out himself and kept them in a lead-plated safe in his locked office. Hunter was capable of getting into both but didn't want to do so, except as a last resort.

Fortunately, Murph's teacher lived in an apartment building in town, so the blast Hunter created to dispose of the woman would have to be small. Contained. She didn't need to go injuring any neighbors or poisoning them with fallout. Non-nuclear combustibles would be more than enough, but those seemed to be in short supply as well. Gorram, what Hunter wouldn't give for just an intact gas cylinder or a handful of C4...

"We're bored," Tristan complained, he and Zion slinging pebbles at each other in the cluttered lane.

From her perch in a caved-in cruiser high above their heads, Hunter proclaimed, "Nobody forced you to come."

With a jolly laugh, Zion replied, "You made buildin a bomb sound so much more excitin than this."

"And gettin some sunshine ain't never a bad thing," Winnie beamed, weaving a daisy chain from the sparse patches of pretty weeds she'd of course managed to locate amongst the trash.

Elbow-deep in a turn-of-the-century engine, Hunter sighed heavily. The cousins were great and all, but they could be quite a distraction. And they didn't seem to grasp just how important her mission was. In fact, they didn't seem to even be taking her attempt to kill Ms. Arkwright very seriously. Like it was just a game to play, a reason to skip school.

But as far as Hunter was concerned, the teacher had forfeited her right to go on living as soon as she said one cruel word to Murph.

"Ain't you kids sposta be in class?"

Hunter peered over the edge of the craft and down into Uncle William's stern, stoic face. She gave a crooked smile that didn't impress her uncle or the stocky, dark-haired man standing beside him. "Just putting together an extra-credit science project," she claimed.

The newcomer chuckled gruffly, his face mostly hidden beneath the brim of a beat-up hat. He had a goatee, Hunter could see, a small trim patch settled just below his lower lip.

"Uh huh," Uncle William muttered skeptically, fixing Tristan in place with just one blank look when the boy attempted to slip away. "Well," he continued, "Long as you're here, c'mon down and introduce yourself."

On the ground in just a few seconds, Hunter wiped one greasy hand off a bit before offering it out. "Hunter Zehna, sir," she said to the stocky man, finally noticing a very old scar curving from right corner of his mouth to the right corner of his glassy right eye. The eye was slightly out of line from the other and also a different color: dark brown as opposed to murky blue-green. Hunter wasn't certain if it was blind or just a bit off from whatever damage it had sustained. Since the man wore a browncoat just like Captain Mal's, Hunter decided she could probably assume that it was a war injury.

"Roger Little-Moon," the man declared, smirking slightly, "Your uncle tells me you're quite the mechanic."

Shrugging with faux modesty, she replied, "I dabble."

"Any experience with mining equipment?" Roger asked, mangled face still nonetheless handsome and genial, "I got a busted drillin rig, and nobody can figure what's wrong with it."

Because she always loved getting new toys, Hunter beamed, "I'd be happy to take a look as soon as I, uh, turn in my science project." (As soon as that bitch teacher was dead...)

"Soon as you get off school," laughed Roger, "We try to keep kids in there whenever possible, but if this works out, I'll see bout hirin you on weekends. Lord knows we ain't got no shortage of broken machinery."

"Shiny," said Hunter.

"Get back to class now," Uncle William declared gruffly, sending one more warning glance at his son, "And you and I are gonna have to have a talk tonight, Tristan. I'll let Tess, Hannah Lynn, and Dana deal with the rest a y'all."

The rest of the cousins looked appropriately shamefaced at the thought of their parents finding out.

With a quizzical frown, Roger stated, "Thought you said _Jayne _was the girl's daddy." (His opinion of the man was pretty clear just from the way he spat the name, but since Roger Little-Moon was likely related to Allegra Little-Moon—the fiancé Jayne abandoned—the animosity was understandable.)

Hunter didn't manage to stop herself from snorting loudly as she proclaimed, "Mouse is C.O. He _totally_ outranks Dad."

"Her oldest brother," Uncle William clarified, "You pro'ly seen him around Hannah's place."

With a low belly-laugh, Roger agreed, "Oh, sure. The one that nearly put a whole tray of meals into my wife's lap last week. Seems like a nice boy."

Hunter chuckled.

"School," Uncle William stated, expression as unreadable as always but at least calm as always, too, "Now."

On the way out of the junkyard, Hunter found a couple dry blasting caps in an old mining lift and considered it a good sign.

xxXxx

Dirt lanes weren't exactly wheelchair friendly, but a pair of beefy off-road tires and a well-developed upper body made such conditions relatively passable. Wash had learned that and many other handy lessons in his nearly a decade of paraplegic-hood.

(He'd also learned that his lap was like a portable shelf and that wifey-on-top sex _never _got old.)

Wash managed the last few rolls into the planet's small clinic, smiling at a few waiting patients before charming himself into the back room (the old nurse at the counter, Marguerite Proudfoot, was a total sucker for him). He followed the sound of voices down a short hallway and knocked on the office door.

"Come in," Simon called.

Wash did so and immediately got the distinct impression that he'd interrupted a rather heated argument.

Oren Valenti was the doctor in charge. He'd seemed like a nice enough man—young and core-born, handsome in a pretty-boy way—but town gossip held that he and his twin brother, Omar, were only on world because of Oren's impressive gambling problem. That Oren had bankrupted them both and they'd had to flee the core to avoid being slaughtered by at least three different loan sharks.

Frowning quite petulantly across his cluttered desk, the dark-haired doctor curtly demanded, "Can I help you?"

With a bright grin, Wash answered, "Just bringing by some lunch." He detached the small picnic basket from his chair and added, "Courtesy of Gramma Cobb."

Ace jumped to her feet and whirled around, wearing that terrifying impression that meant she was about to make someone cry. She stormed out of the room and then the clinic, the front door slamming hard enough to make the whole building shake.

"Uh..." Wash began, "What?"

Simon sighed heavily, also standing. He said, "I hope you'll reconsider Dr. Valenti." And then he shuffled and shoved Wash out of the office.

"I have the feeling that I missed something big," the pilot remarked, scanning the area for Ace and finding her already out of sight. He wouldn't be surprised if the girl was a full mile away.

Giving another irritated huff as he pushed the chair along the street, Simon explained, "Dr. Valenti doesn't want to let Ace work in the clinic."

"What?" Wash scoffed, "Why?"

Simon snorted, "Well, he_ says_ that her qualifications are suspect... Ace seems to think it's because she beat him quite badly in a card game the other night."

Wash rolled his eyes. "Wow," he remarked, "That pretty gorram stupid... you might want to warn your colleague about the girl's gigantic overprotective brothers. And her scary sisters. And the whole family, really."

"He'll come around," replied Simon, "The clinic is understaffed, and even a bruised ego shouldn't keep him from accepting another set of capable hands."

A shouting match a ways down the road drew their attention, both men turning to find Ace and Hunter squared off and bellowing back and forth. Hunter should've been in school, so the subject of the argument wasn't hard to guess.

"Should we try to break them up?" Simon questioned warily.

Ace snatched what looked like a small explosive device away from the redhead, frantically ripping out wires as Hunter shrieked at her to stop before she turned them into a rutting crater.

Wash shook his head, backing away as he honestly answered, "I wouldn't."

xxXxx

"Bombing Ms. Arkwright's house is not an option," sighed Dana, doing his best to rub away the headache gathering at the base of his skull. He was wrecked and could barely think past the need to fall into bed.

Hunter huffed and stomped her foot. "That's not fair!" she claimed, "Ace is the one who nearly blew us up! What kind of complete moron randomly yanks wires out of an incendiary?"

"What kind of total psycho builds an incendiary to kill a bitchy teacher?" Ace fired back. She was in one of those volatile moods again, and Dana wasn't sure how to tell her to _shut the gorram hell up_ without making himself a casualty.

Gramma bustled by, setting a sandwich in front of him and tenderly carding her fingers through his hair before retreating into the kitchen.

Lost for a moment in wonderful gesture, Dana had to shake himself back into his current conversation. "No explosives without command approval," he declared firmly, "And quit skipping school. Run five miles and then get back here and do whatever chores Gramma needs."

Briefly, Hunter looked like she might argue, but the girl seemed to think better of it and went stomping out through the front door.

Dana bit into his sandwich and sighed, closing his eyes and wondering if he could manage to chew and sleep at the same time.

"Five miles and extra chores for building a bomb?" Ace challenged snottily, "You sure showed her."

He groaned, "Don't start, Ace. I just spent a cramped, awkward weekend on a ship with that weird Little-Moon woman and all night and all morning unloading an unexpected shipment of steel beams. I'm sore and exhausted, and I'd like to at least finish my lunch before you go off on me for my sub-par parenting."

His sister glared. Then she slapped the sandwich out of his hand and went storming out the back door.

Dana pouted at the ruined meal all over his lap, mournfully doing his best to scrape all the pieces back together. He quickly determined that it was a lost cause.

He was nearly finished cleaning up when Gramma returned, the white-haired old woman quirking an eyebrow at him and commenting, "I guess that didn't go too well."

"She's not easy to talk to when she's in this kind of mood," Dana replied. He abandoned the remnants of his sandwich on the plate on the coffee table, rubbing his bleary eyes.

Sitting down beside him, Gramma patted his shoulder and soothed, "You don't need to be frettin on that right now. Just go get some rest, sweetheart."

Dana shook his head, scrubbed a weary hand through his hair and murmured, "I should talk to Murph. Is she still upstairs?"

Gramma rolled her eyes but nodded. She said, "Poor thing was pretty upset, so I told her she could stay home today. At least until we got the situation with her teacher all sorted out. I told the rest not to confront Ms. Arkwright."

"Ya," Dana agreed, standing, "Good call." He shared a smile with the white-haired old woman and then dragged himself out of there, upstairs into what used to be his Auntie Hannah's bedroom. The many small beds jammed inside didn't detract from the flowers and butterflies and rainbows painted over all the walls and even the ceiling. It was such a bright, happy space. Exactly the kind he'd always envisioned for his siblings. The polar opposite of the sterile dorms on Bastille.

Murph was curled up in the far corner, her back against the wall and her little arms wrapped around her yowling, hairless kitten. She pouted briefly at Dana as he entered then dropped her forehead to her knees.

"C'mere, little one," he cooed, scooping the girl up with only minimal protest. He sat them down on the nearest bed and didn't have to wait long before she was clinging to his neck and crying softly. "Shhh," he murmured, "It's alright. Just tell me what happened."

Sniffling and probably smearing snot and tears all over her brother's shirt, the blonde wept, "Ms. Arkwright was really mean to me all week. And then she was making us practice handwriting on Friday, and I tried really hard, but I couldn't do it good enough. It was too shaky and messy. Ms. Arkwright let everybody else do reading time, but she made me keep doing handwriting, and I told her that I couldn't do it any better, but she just said that I'd have to be stupid if that was true. She made me write all day until my hand really hurt and then tried to keep me after school, but I didn't want to, so I climbed out the window."

The adorable end to the horrible story was the only thing that kept Dana from marching straight to the school and shoving a pistol into the teacher's mouth. Well, that and the fact that he'd barely slept the entire weekend (kept opening his eyes to find Allegra Little-Moon staring at him all creepily) and might pass out before he could get there.

"I'm sorry, Murph," Dana muttered, "I'll take care of it. I promise." Maybe he'd been a little too hasty taking away Hunter's explosives...

Huffing, Murphy squeezed him tighter and insisted, "I don't like school. Why can't I just go flying with you?"

With a smile, Dana questioned, "So you want to be a pilot now?"

Murphy nodded vehemently. "I'm not too little," she insisted, "And I'm not stupid."

"Of course you're not," agreed Dana, "And you can be anything you want when you grow up. But for now, your job is to enjoy being a kid. That means going to school and making friends and having lots of fun. Alright?"

"Alright," she pouted.

Dana stretched out on the small bed, his legs dangling off the end. He only really intended to rest a minute, But as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out cold with Murph sprawled across his chest.

xxXxx

Sally wasn't a very good liar. He rarely felt the need to even try.

"Ms. Arkwright didn't show up for work today," Aunt Alma announced, staring him down (quite menacingly for someone so small), "Turns out, she left world early this morning."

Sally fidgeted at Gramma's kitchen table, doing his best not to look guilty.

"She didn't give a reason," the petite woman went on, "Just wrote a note sayin that she couldn't possibly stay here anymore and wouldn't be comin back."

Sally glanced toward Gramma for guidance, possibly even help, but only received a look of fond exasperation.

"A neighbor saw a very tall, dark-haired young man visit her apartment late last night," continued Aunt Alma, "The same neighbor claims that Ms. Arkwright packed in a rush almost as soon as he came out. Everyone at the docks said that she still looked scared for her life when she boarded the shuttle."

Sally felt that it was probably in his best interest to keep his mouth shut, at least until the evidence against him proved more definitive.

"Well?" the irate woman demanded, hands fisted at her slim hips, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Despite his earlier decision to remain silent, Sally blurted, "She called Murph stupid."

Aunt Alma's dark cheeks flushed with anger. "And that gives you the right to terrify her? To _drive off world_? Do you have any idea how difficult it's gonna be to replace a teacher right now?"

"Probably less difficult than convincing Murph to go back to school," Sal bit back, already feeling mighty defensive, "I'm not sorry. _Nobody_ talks to my family like that, especially not some bitter old hag who likes to pick on little girls."

Gritting her teeth, Aunt Alma insisted, "Not that I had the opportunity to find out before you drove Ms. Arkwright away, but I'm sure it was just a misunderstandin-"

"No," interrupted Sally as he leapt to his full, impressive height, "Murph has nerve damage in her hands from being experimented on in a rutting Alliance prison camp, and that _bitch_ had the balls to mock her for not writing neat enough!" Cutting his aunt off again when she started to speak, the teen continued, "And Arkwright knew about the nerve damage! Mouse gave all the teachers a full briefing when we the dropped the kids off on their first day! If I were you, I'd be less concerned about finding a new teacher and more concerned about finding one who's not a gorram sadist!"

Sally and his aunt glared at each other for a few moments before Mouse appeared in the doorway, bed-headed and likely still in the half-asleep mode that made him dopey and suggestible. "S'goin on?" he grunted.

"Charades," Sal replied coolly, greatly enjoying his brother's puzzled frown.

Mouse muttered, "Huh?"

With a smirk, Sally instructed, "Go back to bed, alright? We'll wake you when it's your turn."

Mouse blinked around the room in confusion for a few more moments before finally agreeing, "K." He turned around and stumbled out of sight.

Sally chuckled under his breath. That never got old.

And witnessing the exchange had at least softened Aunt Alma's anger: she looked like she was fighting down one of those gooey expressions women get when they think something is _oh so adorable_. It might've even gotten him off the hook.

Unfortunately, the expression quickly morphed into a rather ominous smirk, and Sal couldn't help his gathering worry. Again, he glanced toward Gramma for support but saw that she was gone, probably trailing after Mouse to make sure he didn't wander into a well (which their father had apparently almost done several times sleepwalking as a child).

"You ain't landed a job yet, right?" questioned Aunt Alma, arching a slim eyebrow.

Hesitantly, Sal confirmed, "No..."

The petite woman answered only with a downright sinister laugh.

xxXxx

Except for the stretch of years when she disappeared without a trace, Allegra Little-Moon had never been very difficult for her brother to find. He knew her better than just about anyone did, her secret obsession with those cheesy serial dramas floating all over the cortex and her deep, irrational fear of clowns. He knew that while he'd been getting himself blown up in the U-war, she'd gotten hooked on booze and pills, that she'd done a lot of awful things to finance the habit before finally hitting rock bottom and crawling back to Galena in her current, almost unrecognizable state.

Roger still loved his big sister, always had. They'd been best friends growing up, did practically everything together. Unfortunately, Legs was stubborn and rarely listened to his sound advice, especially the advice concerning Jayne Cobb.

"I thought you were through with him, Legs," the stocky man declared as he sat down beside her in the shade of a twisted, wind-ravaged cypress twenty miles into her favorite stretch of nowhere, "You ain't fixin to do somethin stupid, are you?"

With a broken smile that still broke Roger's heart, his skeletal sister chuckled, "Nah. I gave up on Jay Cobb a long time ago. And he's married now, anyhow. Little slip of a thing ain't quite all there, but she seems sweet enough... and they're happy." She took a swig out of the dark bottle in her hand, hissing past the burn of the hooch before tightly adding, "You were right about him all along. He never loved me. He was just killin time."

"I'm sorry," Roger murmured, snaking his arm around her painfully thin shoulders and trying to keep her out of his blind spot, "I wish it were different for ya. I know you were head-over-heels for that _hun-dan_ since we was kids."

"Ya," she replied, stringy blonde hair falling over her eyes, "I wish a lot of things were different." She paused again, took another drink and leaned into Roger's embrace. "Rog," she whispered, "I... I did somethin really, really bad while I was gone. Worse than what I told you about."

He felt his stomach twist a bit at the very thought of something worse than what he already knew. All the crime and degradation and one notable murder.

Swallowing hard, Allegra went on, "I think Daddy figured it out. I came home today and... and he could barely look at me. He tried to ask and couldn't even make himself say it... Took me years tryin to forget the worst thing I ever did. I almost convinced myself it was... that it was all a horrible dream... but then I saw the kid, and I just _knew_..."

Roger had lost her face in the smudge of blackness that dominated his right eye but heard the hitch in her voice and knew she was crying. "C'mon, Legs," he murmured, "Whatever it is, we're all here for ya."

She laughed bitterly, mirthlessly, swiped at her damp cheeks before finally looking up. Seemed like there was an ocean of sorrow churning behind those blue eyes. "Jay's oldest boy, Dana," Allegra wept, "I'm his mother."

xxxxxxxxxx

Translations –

hun-dan – son of a bitch

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes –

Mowgli – a character from Rudyard Kipling's _Jungle Book_ stories who was orphaned as an infant and subsequently raised by wolves in the jungle.

P.T. – physical training.

C.O. – commanding officer

Hope that was enough tantalizing plot setup for y'all, haha. More to come hopefully soon, and reviews equal inspiration :)

(Also, feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I know all the storylines and characters can be hard to keep track of.)


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